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premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'iilustration  et  en  terminant  par 
ia  derniAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

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dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — ►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN  ". 

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et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  ndcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  m^thode. 


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SPEECH 


OP 


HON.  WILLIAM  H.  HAYWOOD, 


OF  NORTH   CAROLINA, 


ON 


THE  OREGON  QUESTION. 


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DELIVERED 


IN  THE  SExNATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  MARCH  4  &  5,  1846. 


M. 


WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED  AT  THE  OFFICE  OF  BLAIR  AND  RIVES. 
1846. 


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THE    OREGON    QUESTION. 


The  Joint  Resolution  for  giving  the  notice  to  tormi- 
nate  tlie  convention  l)et\veen  the  United  States 
and  GrcHt  Britain  relative  to  the  Oregon  Terri- 
tory, being  under  consideration — 

Mr.  HAYWOOD  addressed  the  Senate  as  fol- 
lows; 

Mr.  Prekident;  The  subject  before  the  Senate  is 
an  important  one.  Viewed  in  connexion  Muth  the 
topics  that  have  been  brought  into  the  discussion 
of  it,  it  i.s  one  of  momentous  interest;  and  I  eo)ifess 
that  its  magnitude  o]iprc«,ses  me.  My  want  of  ex- 
perience in  political  allairs  naturally  made  me  reluc- 
tant to  eater  into  it  as  a  speaker,  when  I  must 
necessarily  feel,  in  addition  to  the  high  responsibili- 
ties of  the  occasion  itself,  the  embarrassment  of 
addressing  those  who  are  my  seniors  in  age  and 
in  political  knowledge.  Besides,  I  have  thought 
that  Ji  silent  vote,  could  it  have  been  obtained, 
would  be  much  more  imposing.  But  the  occur- 
rences of  the  last  few  weeks  have  left  me  no  choice. 
Silence  would  now  be  a  compromise  with  my  con 
science  and  my  duty  to  the  country,  and  1  must 
speak.  It  will  take  me  some  time,  but  I  throw 
myself  upon  the  patience  of  the  Senate,  with  a 
pledge  that  my  heart  shall  be  opened  sincerely, 
•It  this  the  council  board  of  our  conmion  country; 
I  hare  no  actions  of  the  past  to  explain,  and  no 
aspirations  for  the  future  to  restrain  me;  and  if 
God  gives  me  strength  and  utterance  for  thew(n-k, 
I  will  do  my  whole  duty  according  to  my  poor 
abilily. 

The  President  of  the  United  States,  who  is  au- 
thorized by  the  Constitution  to  make,  but  not  to 
unmake  treaties,  has  a  negotiation  on  foot  which 
was  commenced  or  opened  before  his  term  of  office 
began.  The  object  of  it  has  been  to  fix  a  line  of 
division  by  compromise  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain,  and  thereby  to  adju.-;t  the  con- 
llicting  claims  of  the  two  Govermnents  to  the  ter- 
ritorylying  west  of  the  Stony  mountains,  common- 
ly called  OREGON.  I  assume  for  the  present — 
hereafter  I  will  demonstrate — that  in  the  view  of  our 
President,  as  well  as  the  British  Minister,  the  ne- 
gotiation is  still  a  pending  one.  The  assumption 
is  warranted  by  every  incident  of  the  subject  in  this 
country  and  in  Great  Britain,  except  the  absurd 
conclusions  and  unauthorized  constructions  given 
by  some  of  my  own  party  friends  to  the  Message 


of  the  President.  And  it  is  confirmed  beyond  all 
fair  doubt  by  thesi/ciice  of  the  President  upon  that 
point,  when,  if  the  negotiation  had  terminated,  Ex- 
ecutive silence  would  be  unpardonable — tiie  more 
especially  as  his  jurisdiction  over  the  subject  will 
cease  the  moment  negotiation  ends.  The  negoti- 
ation once  closed,  concluded,  put  an  end  to,  by  the 
Executive,  and  all  the  remaining  questions  about 
OREGON  will  become  forthwith  subjects  of  legis- 
lation by  Congress  exclusively. 

But  to  proceed.  At  the  meeting  of  Congress  in 
December,  the  negotiators  of  the  two  Govennnentd 
had  been  unable  to  agree  upon  a  compiomisc  of 
their  conflicting  claims,  and  the  President,  believing 
that,  under  the  existing  convention  of  1827,  the 
United  States  cannot  "  rightfully  assert  or  exercise 
exclusive  jurisdiction  over  an'y  p(>rtion  of  the  ter- 
ritory" without  giving  a  year's  notice,  declared  to 
Congress  that,  in  his  jud";ment,  it  would  be  proper 
to  give  the  notice;  and  thereupon  by  his  Message 
he  recommended  that  provision  be  made  by  laic  for 
giving  it  accordingly,  and  terminating  "  in  this  man- 
ner'" the  convention  of  the  6th  August,  1827.  Tliia 
then  is  the  question:  What  shall  v/c  do? 

The  Message  of  the  President  wius  accompanied 
by  a  copy  of  all  the  correspondence  which  had  taken 
place  in  the  negotiation;  and  we  have  subsciuent- 
iy  been  furnished,  by  oiu"  request,  with  such  fur- 
ther correspondence  as  had  taken  place  in  it  up  to 
February,  184G.  In  the  meanwhile,  various  propo- 
sitions in  the  Senate,  emanating  from  individual 
Senators,  but  not  from  ihc  Executive,  have  been  of- 
fered and  proposed;  and  it  is  true,  as  some  honor- 
able Senator  said  the  other  day,  that  we  have  exhib- 
ited the  singular  spectacle  in  this  Capitol  of  a  dis- 
cussion by  Congress  with  open  doors  of  nearly  all 
the  foreign  aflfairs  of  the  nation,  and  more  esjiecial- 
ly  of  our  affairs  with  Great  Britain  upon  this  very 
subject  of  the  Oregon  territory,  although,  at  the 
same  time,  negotiations  have  been  going  on  at  the 
Executive  dejiartment  v/itli  iie  British  Minister; 
and  it  was  rather  intimated  ihan  charged,  that  the 
President  was  to  blame  for  it.  Now,  in  the  spirit 
of  kindness  which  characterized  tliis  complaint, 
suffer  me,  a  friend  of  the  Administration,  to  an- 
swer why  I  do  not  concur  in  it,  and  how  I  suppose 
the  sending  of  this  correspondence  here  may  be 
vindicated. 

The  President,  believing  that  the  convention  of 


>\i 


lS-21  had  hotter  l)c  nhrogtitcd ,  \vc  know  tl-.at  lie 
could  do  tlidt  ill  I'itlu!!-  one  of  two  ways,  hut  in  no 
otlier.  Eillier  Ik;  must  ^ft  an  a.y^rccnu'iit  witii 
Groat  Britain  to  ahr  i^iiie  it  l)y  mutiutl  consent,  and 
tli!Mi  Con:;rPs,s  need  not  he  applied  to  at  all:  or  he 
nuist  <i;ot  tiie  mandate  of  n  Iiih\  autlioiizin^  liiin 
to  j^ivc  a  year's  notice.  The  first  mode  was  not 
attempted. 

Till!  other  manner  of  doins:  it  is  by  a  line  of 
tliis  Government;  r  id  llie  President  re;'onimciided 
to  Congress — C(Mii!;rcHs  alone  hei;-.^  coinpeteiit  to 
rnact  it — that  provision  he  made  for  ^ivini^  the 
notice  accordinu;iy,  and  for  termii.ating-,  "  in  Ihh 
»HrtH?ier,"  tho  convention  of  1827.  Can  it  he  said 
that  the  President  erred  inchoosinj:;  "this  maimer" 
of  terniinatinn;  the  convention,  it  beini;  the  only 
mode  by  wliich  that  object  could  he  lefi;itimately 
accomplished  without  closing  his  negotiations  for 
u  compromise?  Tiie  cnniplaint  against  tho  Mes- 
sage implies  lie  had  no  intention  lo  do  that.  It 
being  indispensable  to  a])i)ly  to  Congress  for  a 
law  to  give  tlic  notice,  was  it  not  both  proper  and 
necessary  to  communicate  to  Congress  everything 
that  had  taken  place  in  the  negotiation,  as  far  as 
it  had  jirogresscd  when  the  President  made  his 
recommendation? 

The  case  is  a  peculiar  one;  hut  tliat  peculiarity 
did  not  arise  out  of  anything  that  this  Adminis- 
tration has  done,  but  altogether  from  the  con- 
vention it  is  desired  to  aljrogate,  and  the  limited 
constitutional  power  of  the  American  Execu- 
tive. Look  to  the  Message  itself,  and  you  see 
iiotliiiig  in  it  either  more  or  less  than  what  the 
President  was,  in  a  great  degree,  obliged  to  dis- 
close to  the  legislative  department  under  the  pecu- 
liar circumstances  of  the  subject.  That  Congress 
niigiil  determine  this  (piestiim  of  notice,  th(^y  must 
know  ti'.c  state  and  condition  of  the  negotiation. 
They  would  know  that  best  l)y  sr nding  up  all  the 
correspondence;  and  in  order  that  they  might  see 
and  judge  for  themselves,  the  President  communi- 
cated to  Coni.  ss  tlic  rrliole  conrspondcnce  w\\\c\\ 
bad  taken  place.  He  has  done  no  more,  and  he  is 
r"spoiisil;lc  for  luuhing  more. 

Had  he  any  right  to  suitpose  that  this  would  be  [ 
made  the  foundation  for  violent  invective  and  irre-  ■ 
gular  discussions,  and  for  all  the  [impositions  that 
have  followed  it?      If  he  had  apprehended  any  \ 
pucli  consequences,  would  that   have  authorized  , 
hini  to  withhold  the  recommendation  of  a  mea-  i 
sure  of  legislation  which  he  deemed  to  lie  essonti;d  j 
to  tlie  interest  of  the  nation,  and  which  he  may 
have  supposed   to   be  important   to  the  jicnce  of 
the  country  ?    Upon  making  siu;li  a  recommenda- 
tion, how  could  he  conceal  the  int'ormation  that 
was  necessary  to  aid  Congress  in  considering  it? 
Had  he  any  means  of  foreseeing  that  this  simple 
act  of  necessary  duty  on  the  part  of  the  Execu- 
tive would  be  perverted  into  an  occasion  for  de- 
bating, not  the  nuestion  of  notice  or  no  notice, 
which  properly  belongs  to  the  Legislative  depart- 
ment, but  also  our  negotiations  with  Great  Britain, 
when  her  Minister  is  in  the  city  and  even  in  the 
lobby  of  the  Capitol,  and  our  foreign  relations  and 
our  grievances,  real  or  supposed,  with  all  the  king- 
doms of  the  earth,  whi(;h  legitimately  iielong  to  the 
Executive  department  ?     Perliaps,  he  felt  a  strong 
reliance  upon  the  prudence,  moderation,  and  wis- 
dom of  Congress — tl.e^  assembled  Representatives 
of  the  people  and  the  States — and  hoped  that  they 


I  would  in  such  a  case  talk  loss,  but  deliberate  and 
'  then  act.  Perhaps  he  thought  that,  upon  a  ([ui'stiiui 
!  of  this  kind,  liie  necessity  he  was  ]iut  under  to  dis- 
'  close  what  was  done  iiy  the  I'^xcciuive  before  he  li.ul 
l<;rniinated  negotiations  would  hardly  l)e  made  a 
!  pretext  for  snatching  lu^golialions  out  of  his  hands, 
which  he  did  not  rcivnnmcnd,  instead  of  enacting  a 
law  to  arm  him  with  a  notice  that  he  did  recom- 
niend.  How  far  ho  was  mistaken,  if  he  did  so 
feel  and  so  think,  need  not  be  said  to  this  .Sciiale. 
The  'v  flits  of  the  last  few  weeks  sjpcak  for  tlani- 
selvts.  I'llicvin^-  that,  so  fu'asihe  President  has 
been  conci  ined,  the  British  Ciovernment  has  got 
no  advantage  of  us,  1  confess  I  did  Cvi\  mortified 
in  reading  the  news  by  the  last  steamer  at  the  ne- 
cessity of  conceding  to  the  de!)ates  of  the  British 
Parliament  a  decided  superiority  over  tho.-fe  of  our- 
selves in  their  dignity  and  moderation;  and  it  would 
be  C|  'ite  a  satisfaction  to  me  to  get  news  by  the 
next  packet  of  an  outrageous  debate  in  the  British 
Parliament;  at  least  siiiilcient  to  put  us  even  with 
them  on  that  score.  I  cannot  help  wishing  it  may 
be  so. 

[Some  Senator:  "  'Tis  likely  you'll  be  grat- 
ified."] 

But  surely  the  fault  is  not  altogether  that 
of  the  President.  Had  he  known  ever  so  well 
that  his  recommendation  to  /rg(V7«?f,  if  Congress 
saw  fit,  so  ns  to  help  his  progress  in  ne^(A\athj\ , 
would  be  misconstrued  into  iui  invitation  for  all 
sorts  of  interference  by  Congress  with  the  more 
a]ipropriate  duties  of  the  Executive,  he  would 
hardly  have  been  justified  by  it  to  omit  all  or  any 
one  thing  which  he  has  done.  He  has,  as  I  un- 
derstand his  Message,  but  done  his  duty,  and 
no  more,  and  he  dared  not  do  less.  I  hope  Sena- 
tors v/ill  sec  ill  all  this  an  excuse,  for  the  Presi- 
dent, if  they  do  not  find  in  it  a  justification,  for 
his  Message,  to  Congress  c.ommumcniing  the  cnrre- 
spnndencc  with  the  Brilisli  Minister.  That  the  Presi- 
dent sent  this  Message  to  Congress  might  be  excu- 
sed indeed  for  other  reasons,  without  a  heavy  tax 
upon  our  charity.  He  was  bound  to  presume  that 
Congress  are  wise  and  prudent  legislators;  that 
they  would  say  nothing  to  embarrass  nognliation-i 
unless  Congress  really  wished  to  defeat  negotiation; 
and  even  in  that  case,  he  may  have  thought  that, 
as  by  the  Cor.stitution  treaty-making  belonged  tn 
the  President  under  the  advice  of  the  Senate,  his 
own  "  friends,"  without  any  recommendation  from 
him,  would  long  ago  have  proposed  and  voted 
directly  "  that  the  President  shall  be  advisku  b\ 
the  Sen.vtk  that  he  is  mistaken  in  sujiposing  the 
nation  committed  itself  to  any  compromise,  and 
that  the  negotiation  upon  that  basis  ought  to  be 
concluded,  if  that  indeed  be  the  decision  of  the  peo- 
ple."   That  would  !>o  DOING  something. 

I  do  not  alfirm  that  the  President  thought  all  this, 
or  any  of  it.  Yet  another  thing  has  struck  my 
own  mind  with  some  fiirce,  and  possibly  it  might 
not  have  been  without  its  influence  upon  the  Presi- 
dent. When  he.  came  into  ofllcc,  he  declared  hi-'^ 
belief  that  fiur  title  to  Oregon  was  "clear  and  un- 
questionable." In  prosecuting  the  negotiation,  he 
found  it  to  ,;e  his  duty  to  offer  a  line  of  compro- 
mise at  49,  and  to  give  up  JanKs  K.  Polk's  opin- 
ion to  the  President's  obligation  to  preserve  na- 
tional honor.  From  some  cause  or  other  the  public 
mind  had  been  pre-occupied  with  the  belief  that 
this  olTcr  had  not  been  made  by  him.    But  as  it 


t  (!cli1)Ci;ite  ami 
upon  (I  nucstidii 
ut  iiiulci'  to  (lis- 
K!  hcforo  lie  li;iil 
•illy  lio  niM(lr  ji 
Hit  of  Ilia  li;\ii(ls, 
:ul  of  I'li.'icliiiC'  a 
he  ilifl  rccoiii- 
>n,  if  lie  ilid  so 
1  to  lliis  Sciiati'. 
sjicak  for  tlu'iii- 
i;  I'lTsidoiit  lias 
•ninciit  lias  ^ot 

I  d'd  ninrtifii'il 
imor  at  tlie  iic- 
i  of  the  Britisii 
cr  ihoac  of  our- 
111 ;  and  it  would 
ct  news  hy  tin" 
,c  in  the  British 
it  us  even  with 

wishing  it  may 

you'll  be   grat- 

tvltogelher    that 

II  ever  so  well 
lie,  if  Congress 
9  in  ue^ijliatiou 
iivitation  for  all 

with  the  nioic 
itive,   he  would 
omit  all  or  any 
le  has,  as  I  mi- 
hia    duly,  and 
I  hope  Sena- 
,  for  the  Presi- 
juRtification,  for 
frt/iiiif  the  cnrn- 
That  the  Presi- 
might  he  excu- 
-)ut  a  heavy  tax 
to  presume  that 
Icgislat'U-s;  tint 
iss  negnliations 
feat  nigol'iatioii; 
?.  tlhiVight  that, 
ng  belonged  tn 
the  Senate,  his 
mendation  from 
)sod  and  votrd 
be  ADVisKP  liy 
su]iposing  tlu' 
improniise,  and 
lis  ought  to  he 
sion  of  the  pen- 
nfthing. 
hough  tall  this, 
las  struck  my 
)ssibly  it  might 
ipon  the  Presi- 
de declared  his 
"clear  and  un- 
negutiation,  he 
ne  of  conipro- 
V.  Polk's  opin- 
preserve  iia- 
atlier  the  public 
the  belief  that 
im.    But  as  it 


IkmI  been  mttdc,  the  Presi'''  it  mi;;hf  have  fcU, 
iiiid  prohably  he  did  feel,  a  snli'Miude  at  the  nioci- 
in:;' of  Con'.vrcss  to  tell  the  whole — to  let  out  the 
srcicl — and  to  prevent,  if  he  could,  clamors  or  cal- 
umny upon  the  subject.  Had  the  Prcsidiiit  dicad- 
ed  the  same  clamors,  and  soui^ht  to  avoid,  hysuch 
a  disclosure,  denuncirtions  like  those  which  have 
lir'cn  unceasingly  pouri  d  out  up(Mi  the  heads  of  the 
Lrrcatmen  who  negotiated  and  voted  for  the  Wasli- 
iii'^ton  treaty,  I  tim  sure  the  Srnati-  would  not 
Maine  him  much  for  it — not  i-irij  much.  That 
Washin^'ton  treaty  seems  to  have  become  a  favor- 
ite liohhy.  Perhaps  it  is  to  lie  kept  airoinir  until  it 
can  L::ct  comjiaiiy.  It  may  \:v.  that  the  President  did 
not  wish  to  furnish  the  com]ianion  for  it  by  kecp- 
iiiu'liis  "  friends"  iniappri/.ed  of  the  important  fa('t 
that  he  had  offered  a  coinpromise.  I  slnmld  not 
wonder  at  it,  if  he  did  not.  As  it  is,  that  thunder 
will  all  be  s]ioiled,  as  far  as  rnnrralnirnl  <:oes. 

I  have  f^eldom  heard  a  discussion,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, about  our  territorial  rights  in  any  quarter, 
(hat  I>K\TON''s  s[)cech  irainst  Wr.r.sTi:ii's  treaty 
was  not  re-produced.  A  new  edition  of  ,ui  old 
speech,  abridsjed  to  be  sure,  but  not  improved. 
Our  ]ioliticians  seem  detemiined.  to  convince  the 
world  ahrnad,  and  the  i><i,)ile  at  home,  whether 
or  not,  that  our  nation  is  always  ovr-rn  lu-hed, 
cheated,  and  disgraced.  But  why  do  this,  if  at 
i'.ll,  long  after  a  treaty  iias  been  solemnly  ratified 
hy  a  vote  of  30  to  9  !  in  the  Ameri'^an  Senate?  Let 
not  Senators  give  their  aid  to  it,  I  say,  as  we  love 
one  another  or  the  ouiitry.  I  utter  no  conijilainfs 
against  the  speech  itself  of  my  honoralde  friend 
from  Missouri,  [Mr.  Bkn'tont.]  Like  everything 
else  that  comes  from  him  here,  it  was  eloquent. 
It  was  in  season  and  at  the  riirht  time  when  he 
made  it.  The  occasion  v.'hich  called  it  forth  has 
now  passed,  and  along  with  it  the  strong  excite- 
ments under  which  the  f?peech  was  made.  The 
constitutional  authorities  of  the  Government  over- 
ruled his  objections,  and  it  is  no  disparagement  to 
the  fame  of  the  speech  or  of  that  Senator  to  he- 
li(^ve  that  his  noble  and  generous  heart  would  be 
able  to  sec  now  (and  his  manly  chara(;ter  would 
let  him  own  it)  that  there  was  quite  ciiotigh  of 
ii.i'ective  and  suspicion  in  th.e  speech  when  it 
was  made.  I  know  not  how  ho  feels  under 
its  rf  petition,  with  or  without  notes,  but  I  have 
admired  the  patience  of  Senators  implicated 
hy  denunciations  about  tiic  Washinijton  treaty, 
and  wondered  how  they  could  silently  endure  it. 
Certainly,  when  such  ttiiiii'-s  are  introduced  here, 
tliey  are  in  exceeding  liad  taste,  and  very  like  what 
a  vetierated  friend  of  mine  used  to  call  the  dullest 
thing  in  the  wvirld  to  listen  at — "  old  psalms  sini^ 
ever  (h'.dd  hnrsrs."  Out  of  the  Senate,  it  is  the 
game  by  which  great  men  of  this  nation  are  to  be 
killed  off,  and  more  room  left  for  e?:a!ting  Uttk 
men  to  fttg  offices. 

But,  Mr.  President,  let  all  this  be  as  it  ma\', 
and  let  it  be  riul'.t  or  wrons:  in  the  President  "to 
have  sent  his  ATessage,  and  'he  iiifoi-mation  in  it, 
to  the  Conu;ress  of  the  United  States:  he  has 
done  it — the  act  is  past  recall.  The  subject  is  be- 
fore the  Senate,  and  with  all  its  embarrassments,  it 
has  l)ecome  necessary  for  the  Senate  to  act  upon  it, 
and,  in  my  judgment,  the  sooner  we  do  that,  the 
better  for  the  country. 

In  order  to  act  aright  wo  must  look  to  the  Presi- 
dent's Messages,  and  see  for  ourselves  wluU  po- 


sition he  occupies.  I  agree  rniirely  with  .somo 
■  th'c  Senators  that  we  cannot  take"  our  position 
upon  this  questimi  of  the  notice  until  we  see  the 
position  of  the  President.  See  it,  1  mean,  with 
a  reasonable  certainty:  as  positive  certainty  cannot 
he  arrived  at,  and  cannot  lie  expected.  If  he  means 
to  negotiate  for  a  compromise,  or  if  there  be  a  jievd- 
i)ig  itea;iil'uilinn,  it  would  he  unwise,  unprecedent- 
ed, ami  indelicate,  for  the  President,  either  him- 
self directly,  or  indirectly  throuirh  another  person, 
to  declare  hefiu'ehand  any  determination  of  hia 
own  mind  upon  questions  to  arise  in  liie  further 
progress  of  siadi  a  negotiation.  I  shall,  in  justice 
to  hiin,  have  occasion  to  jioint  out  to  the  S  'uate 
hereafter  hinv  I  think  this  silence — this  necessary 
silence — proves'abtiost  of  it.self  that  his  "  thoughts 
are  turned  on  peace." 

But  what  is  the  position  of  the  President  in  this 
n"gotiation  ?  About  it  there  would  be  less  doubt  it' 
there  had  been  less  effort  to  assign  the  President 
an  extreme  position,  and  a  false  jvisition.  What 
say  the  "  records?"  Where  does  he  stand?  We 
must  see  before  we  fling  him  the  notice  to  terminate 
the  convention  of  18'27. 

First,  we  all  know  that  the  President — whose 
assent  is  iiidispens;ib!e — will  notaicrce  loan  arbitra- 
I'lon.  I  do  not  stop  to  defeiul  or  to  accuse  him  for 
this;  it  belongs  to  some  other  occasion.  If,  in 
the  Providence  of  God,  this  Oregon  controversy 
should  terminate  in  a  conflict,  the  responsibility  of 
havinir  rejei'ted  arh'itrnlion  will  he  a  fearful  one,  atul 
he  will  have  to  meet  it.  But  the  responsibility  has 
been  taken  by  him.  The  Senate,  therefore,  must 
now  proirecd  upon  it  as  a  fact,  a  "  fixed  fact,"  that 
arbitration  is  out  of  the  question.  We  cannot 
help  it  if  we  would,  and  I  owe  it  to  candor  to  say, 
that  I  would  not  if  I  could. 

Well,  then,  we  have  seen  in  his  Message  that 
Great  Britain  made  an  offer  of  compromise,  which 
was  rejected  by  the  American  Government,  in 
August,  1844,  and  the  President  has  informed 
Cojigress  plainly  and  distinctly  that  this  British 
proposition  to  us  cannot  be  entertained  by  him,  but 
that  it  is  "  v.'holly  inadmissible."  So  far  there  is 
no  difficulty.  Everything  is  plain  and  directly  to 
the   point,  as  it  ought  to  be. 

Next,  we  are  informed  by  the  Message  that  the 
President  himself  made  an  offer  to  Great  Britain  by 
which  the  territory  of  Oregon  between  the  paral- 
lels of  42'^  and  54°  4(1'  was  proposed  to  be  divided 
by  a  comprnmisc  on  the  line  of  49°,  and  that  the 
British  Minister  rejected  it  without  submitting  any 
other  proposition,  &r.  This  offer  of  our  Presi- 
dent was  made  on  12th  of  July,  184.5 — refused  on 
the  29th  of  the  same  month.  But  on  30lh  August, 
1845,  the  President  withdrew  his  rejected  proposi- 
tion, and  reasserted,  by  his  letter  to  the  British 
Minister,  our  claim  and  title  to  the  whole  of  Or- 
egon— which  tetter  han  not  !)ren  ansxrered.  ! 

The  President  does  not  say  ihiit  the  negotiation 
Jim  been  abandoned,  nor  that  if  will  be  concluded  by 
him  without  waiting  to  receive  another  offer.  No 
sueli  thing.  He  does  not  inform  Con^rrcss  that  he 
will  or  will  nut  reneu',  or  that  he  will  or  will  not 
entertain,  his  own  offer,  which  he  adopted  as  that 
of  the  nation,  for  a  compromise.  I  repeat,  that  it 
w;\s,  under  the  circumstances,  impossible  for  him 
to  do  that,  provided  he  considered  compromise 
still  ADMISSIBLE.  But  he  does  say  that  he  has 
receded,  notwithstanding  his  opinion  as  to  title,  to 


i 


i 


^1.1 


6 


llio  lino  i)f  10^  as  a  rnmpiouiUr,  niul  liis  rrasoiirt 
fill'  it  oi'i'  ;!j;iviii — rcasmiH  (|niir  iis  coiichisivi!  in 
fiuiir  of  rtcc/yi/iii!,'  liir  iill'rr  lU'W  US  llicy  \V('i-c  for 
vi)i!:iiit:;  it  last  ymr!  And  as  I  iiiidi  isiaiKJ  ili(> 
I'rrsiilriii's  |ir)siii(iii,  lie  staniis  lliis  ilnv  ii{iiiii  thai 
lino  lA'V.P  n.s  a  rrwiiromisr,  if  C'OMI'ROMISK  is 
to  lie  liad.  f)nci!  lor  all,  let  nie  (!X|ilain,  tliat  wlu-n 
I  liavo  S|ink(n  or  shall  hrri-afun-  speak  of  iho 
*'  coiiipynniisi  linr  o/' HP,"  I  do  hy  no  means  iiilrnd 
to  he  nnderstiiod  lilcidlhj.  (>nt  1  mean  llial  lint! 
in  siili^hnirv — not  "  e\ery  in'di" — I  mi  an  the  sami; 
compromise  snhst(inli(ilhi  whieli  this  (lovcrnment 
Ims  fi'eipM.'ntly  ollrred  without  regard  to  .sligiit 
variations;  which  may  be  left  for  settlcnicnl  liy 
"  eqnivalents."  I  do  not  mfasnre  my  own  or 
other  people's  patriotism  liy  the  "  inch."  I  .shall 
not  recognise  that  nui'snrement  in  decidini^  uiion 
the  merits  of  tin;  Adminislraliim  fa-  tin;  wisifoni 
of  a  treaty — not,  at  all,  at  all. 

Atr.  I'resiih'nt,  /  ('('•rnv.io  rntj/  a^ilhorUij  to  sptnh 
FOR  the  l^rcstilnit.  I  have  alieady  said  that  he 
could  not  speak  for  himselt",  nor  authorize  another 
to  speak /or  him,  so  Ion;;-  as  negotiation  was  pend- 
ing, or  not  concluded,  (^h!  I  wish  it  were  so  ilnit 
he  could  speak  out.  But  I  nnist  he  allowed  to 
speak  for  myself  since  the  Administration  has 
been  so  ]icrseverin;.;ly  )iut  where  I  ou^ht  not  to 
.«itf\nd  by  it;  and  I  will  dare  to  .speak  lo  tin-  Pn-si- 
dciit,  and  nflho  President  atid  his  AIessai;es,  from 
iny  station  upon  this  floor,  n.s  I  judi;;e  him  and 
them.  And  I  say,  in  answer  to  certtiin  Senators  of 
my  party,  that  the  President  did  right,  exactly 
rinht,  in  continuing  this  negotiation  for  a  compro- 
mise which  he  found  on  foot,  iuid  in  renewing  the 
offiV  fi/-}!)°  as  a  line  (•frnmproinisv.  And  in  reply  to 
them  further,  1  say  that  he  oiiglit  not,  and  my  con- 
victions arc  as  sti'ong  as  death  itself  th.at  he  c.ati- 
not,  will  not,  disgrace  himself, mil  his  Adiuinisti:i- 
tion  by  refusing ///,s  oicur//!;-,  siionld  it  be  returned 
'tpon  liim — roAising,  I  mean,  to  enlrrlaln  it;  repuls- 
iig  it,  and  rashly  jiutting  a  final  termination  lo  his 
..egotiation  for  a  peaceful  compromi.«e;  and  madly 
forcing  his  country  into  a  war,  without  even  con- 
sulting his  constiiutional  advisers,  the  Senate; 
who  are  this  day  assembled.  Yet  that  is  said  of 
him  day  after  d.iy  in  this  Senate.  A  war  Cm'  what.' 
Why,  iMr.  President,  a  wiu'  between  two  gretit 
Clirhl'um  nations  upon  the  meaning  of  tlic  word 
selttemcnts  in  the  Nootka  convention!  A  war, 
perhiips,  of  twenty  years,  to  determine  which  of 
these  Chnsllan  Governments  shtill  enjoy  the  privi- 
lege of  cheating  the  poor  Indians  otitof  the  largest 
portion  of  Oregon.  No,  sir;  no,  sir.  The  Presi- 
dent will  not  do  tliat.  As  he  loves  his  country, 
and  values  his  own  fime,  he  dare  not  think  of  it. 

But  1  have  said  the  Pre.sidentdid  riglit  in  olTeiing 
a  compyovihc  of  this  controversy.  Other  friends  of 
this  Administration  have  said  he  did  wrong,  par- 
ticularly the  Senators  from  Ohio,  [Mr.  Allkx,] 
Indiana,  [Air.  IIawkgav,]  and  Illinois,  [Mr. 
Bref.se.]  Friends  and  eiu'inies,  (if  he  has  an  ene- 
my here,)  will  you  hear  another  friend  in  his  di  - 
fence?  It  is  a  serious  charL;-e,  if  it  be  true.  AVliat 
are  the  fads.'  Let  him  be  tried  by  these, iuid  there 
can  be  no  doubt  of  the  decision.    Hear  them. 

He  found  it  in  ourown  history  a  fact,  an  luidenia- 
))le  fact,  that,  .so  long  ago  as  f  c.ty  years,  in  negotia- 
tions between  thi.^  Government  and  Great  Britain, 
the  United  States  had  maintained  and  asserted  that 
the  true  line  of  our  national  rights,  weat  of  the 


Stony  mo'iiiti'iiiSi  wa«!  at  the  .lOih  parallel  on  ij], 
north,  in  viilne  of  the  treaty  of  (^treidit,  iind  o| 
oiu'  treaty  with  Prance  in  IW',\.  He  found  that  it 
W!;s  u!gi  d  liy  onr  (iovernment  upon  iIk?  ojipo- 
siie  party  as  j\  fict,  too,  that  conunissloners  had 
been  ajipoiiiied  to  designate  the  line  west  of  the 
Stony  mountains,  ronstituting  the  south  bound- 
.ry  of  Great  Britain  and  the  north  boundary  of 
I'^rance,  wtio  sold  us  Louisianti;  iind  that  that  line 
had  lieeii  settled  at  -111";  and  this  fact  was  assumed 
as  the  basis  of  \ery  important  negotiations  at  tliat 
lime  in  progress  between  tis  and  Great  Pritain.    Mf 


knew  tlial  this  wn.s  in  the  days  of  JelRrson  luid 
liis  compatriots. 

,\\<ho(lii,  I  IicI'kvc,  ever  susjirclcd  Ji  [ffy.son  oj'bvlvj; 
*']htli<li'!" 

He  found  that,  in  subseipient  efforts  to  adjust 
this  long-p(  nding  controversy,  to  wit,  in  l^i^,  the 
.•\iiieriean  Government  had  proposed  this  sttmc 
coniproiiUM'  line  at  ■11)'^,  (substantially,  I  mean, 
not  in  fill  it^;  details.)  And  although  our  Minis- 
ters were  instructed  lo  insist  upon  it,  they  were 
unable  to  get  the  consent  of  Great  Hritain;  and 
that  negotiation  finally  terminated  in  a  convention 
for  what  we  cidl  ;i  joint  occupancy  of  the  whole 
territory,  entered  into,  I  believe,  by  our  request, 
and  (-eriaiiily  done  with  our  oonsent,  which  con- 
vention was  to  continue  for  ten  year.".,  and  no 
longer.  That  comention  was  sent  to  the  Senate, 
ii'Uli  all  the  eorre'tjiomlence,  and  it  was  ratified  iuul 
approvid  by  a  vote  of  aves,  38;  noes,  none — all 
"7?,-(7;.'/i."' 

He  found  that  this  convention  was  not  satisfac- 
tory; I)ut  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
gi'cw  ans'ious  lo  settle  and  adjust  the  line  of  di- 
vision between  u.-'  sual  the  Eurojican  Governments 
cbiiining  territorial  rights  west  of  the  Stony  moun- 
tiiiis.  Russia  and  Great  Britain  both  asserted 
right,:!  there.  Russia  furnished  pretty  strong  si^ns 
of  the  Enijieror's  intention  to  maintain  hers  against 
all  the  world.  The  American  Government,  (after 
a  long  deliiy,  growing  out  of  our  policy  towards 
Sjiain,  whom  we  did  not  wiah  to  offend  by  setting 
tip  our  claims  jirematurely,)  finally  acceded  to  ti 
proposal  of  opening  negotiations  with  Russia  and 
Great  Britain  about  lS2i,  for  a  line  of  compro- 
mise. Our  Alinistcrs  were  instructed  to  get  this 
line  adjusted  upon  a  compromise  with  both  nations 
at  t!ie"4nth  paralhd,  and  we  hoped  tit  one  time  to 
tiiiitc  Gre.it  Ih-itain  with  us  against  Russia.  But 
Great  Brii:iin,  although  a  "  joint  occupant"  with 
us,  managed  her  diidomacy  better  than  that,  and 
after  the  TTnited  States  had  agreed  with  Russia  to 
abandon  a'l  our  rights,  viz :  '^  not  to  settle"  north 
of  the  parallel  of  54°  40',  his  Alajcsty  the  King  of 
England,  Arc,  made  a  separate  tretity  with  the 
Emperor  of  Russia,  and  took  to  himself  a  larirc 
share  of  what  we  had  surrendered !  [Our  54°  40' 
friends  ought  to  go  for  it  all  back  again,  according 
lo  their  doctrines,  and  perhaps  England,  with  Ru.<- 
sia  to  helj)  her,  would  flivor  us  with  a  fight,  and 
that's  something.]  In  our  negotiation  of  that  con- 
vention with  Russia,  and  in  our  attempts  to  nego- 
tiate at  that  lime  with  Great  Britain,  the  American 
Government  yielded  up  her  claims  between  54°  40' 
and  01'^  unto  Russia.  (What  an  unconstitutional 
and  di-suiacefiil  dismemberment!)  And  th.e  same 
old  eomnriiuiisc  line,  substantially  that  which  the 
President  re-oflered  in  1845,  was  tendered  to  Great 
Britain  and  declined — urged  and  refused  !    [How 


|i:\r;illi'!  (in  I  In 
^trcclil,  iiiid  ot 
[c  fourid  tlial  il 

poll    tllO    0|l|l(i- 

iiiis.vidncis  IiikI 
lie  west  (if  till' 
sontli  Ixiiind- 
li  l)(niiul!iry  <it' 
(I  that  tlmt'linc 
it  was  iissuiiK  (I 
itiiiiiiiiis  at  tliat 
•at  nritaiii.  Ilr 
r  Jcllli'soii  niul 

^tfferson  ofbvhs 

[•fforts  to  luljust 
vit,  ill  isnitlic 
isfd  litis  same 
iiially,  I  inraii, 
ti;,'h  our  jNIiiiis- 
II  it,  tlicy  '.vcio 
-at,  nritain;  and 
ill  a  (.•onvriitiiiii 
y  of  the  uluiic 
ly  (Hir  rfriucsi, 
lent,  whioli  coii- 

ycars!,  nnd  iin 
it  to  the  .Senate, 
was  ratifu'd  tuid 

noes,  none — nil 

i-ns  not  satisfiU'.- 
(-,  United  States 
t  t\\o  line  of  di- 
m  Governments 
he  Stony  moun- 
1   liotli  asserted 
itty  strong;  si;:ns 
:iiin  hers  against 
ernnu'nt,  (after 
piiliey  towards 
llTcnd  by  settinu; 
ly  acceded  to  a 
Ivith  Russia  and 
(lie  of  eompro- 
■Uh[  to  get  this 
[ith  both  nations 
it  one  time  to 
X  Russia.     But 
loceupnnt"  with 
than  that,  and 
with  Russia  ti) 
ito  settle"  north 
ty  the  King  of 
Ircaty   with    the 
himself  a  lar::c 
[Our  54°  40' 
gain,  according 
Ijand,  with  Rus- 
|th  a  fight,  and 
ion  of  tiiai  con- 
Item  pts  lu  iiego- 
1,  the  Amerieaii 
DCtwecn  54°  40' 
hnconstitutiona! 
And  tlic  same 
I  that  whii'h  the 
lidercd  to  Great 
I-fuscd !    [How 


.iiir's.7i)i()'iV(ni  blood  boils  at  tlie  thought  nrcrding 
an  incli!)     The  tr(;aty  witii  I'lissia,  which,  in  the  [ 
view  of  Senatiu's,  so  (lishiinnralily  and  uiicnnsiitu- 
liiinally  dismembered  tlie  national  dnmaiii,  (for  the 
lieiiefit  of  erowned  heads  too!)  was  snbmilied  to  . 
the  American  Senate,  and,  villi  a  full  /.•«»)(•/( i/gc  ' 
cftlir  cni-iypondi'vce,  the  Senate  itpiiroved  it  all,  by 
:i  vole  of  ayes,  41  !  no,  1 ! 

["Who   was  it?"    exclaimed    several    voices. 
"  Wiiere  was  he  from'?"] 

,7)i<f.     Rhode  Island.     Tlis  name  was  D'Wolf, 
Ml  "  /?n/;s/i,"save  one!  ' 

In  passing,  the  Senate  will  suffer  me  to  say  that  ' 
this  treaty  with  Russia  was  made  within  the  very 
year  suceeedingthefamousdeelaration  of  President  ' 
Monroe's  Messitgc  against  new  European  colonies  j 
(in  this  continent!     Made  by  him.     It  is  of  itself 
^  contemporaneous  construction  of  the  mcaiiinu:  ' 
attached  to  that  declaration.    Attention  is  due  to  the  I 
names  of  the  fortv-ovf.  Senat'-rs  who  a])provei!  ' 
nf  it !     There  are  illustrious  names  in  that  list;  but  ! 
1  have  not  time  to  go  into  such  details;  and  if  I 
had,  the  Senate  would  hardly  have  patience  to  hear  j 
me  through.  i 

The  President  further  found  that  our  importu-  ' 
iiity  to  fix  upon  the  line  of  4!)^  as  a  compromise 
was  again  manifested  as  soon  as  the  convention  of 
1818  wa.s  likely  to  expire;  and  that,  in  the  corre- 
spondence preceding  that  identical  convention  of 
1827,  which  it  is  our  present  wish  to  abrogate  liy 
a  notice,  the  American  Minister  was  instructed  to 
adjust  the  controversy  at  this  same  line  of  49"; 
nnd  the  convention  was  made  only  because  that 
compromm  line  could  not  be  got.  That  corre- 
spondence also  was  laid  before  the  Senate  along 
with  the  convention  of  1827,  where,  in  despite  of 
tlie  opiiosition  of  my  honoralile  friend  from  Mis- 
souri, [Mr.  Bkntont,]  and  in  defiance  of  his  pre- 
dictions, the  convention  was  approved  by  a  vote  of 
ayes  ,T1,  noes  7. 

The  "  Bntisli''^  party  seems  to  have  been  still  a 
strong  party  in  tlie  American  Senate !  The  names 
nfsonie  of  them  stood  high  on  the  rolls  of  Democ- 
racy, and  some  arc  now  in  high  places.  I  will  )iot 
tax  the  patience  of  the  Senate  by  reading  them 
over. 

He  found  that,  under  the  Administrations  suc- 
ceeding the  ratification  of  this  convention — all  of 
them — Adams's,  Jackson's,  Van  Buren's,  Harri- 
son's, and  Tyler's,  too — wc  made  no  complaint  of 
Groat  Britain  about  Oregon,  and  sounded  no  alarm 
to  the  peo]ilc  to  prepare  for  a  repudiation  of  our 
own  oners  to  compromise  "an  incn  "  below  M^  40' ; 
but  quietly  stibmitted  to  let  things  remain  as  they 
were,  until  October,  1843,  when  the  Message  in- 
forms us  that  our  Minister  in  London  was  au- 
tltorized  to  make  an  ofTer  of  com[iromise  similar 
to  those  made  by  us  in  1817  and  1827;  in  other 
words,  to  renew  our  ofTer  of  the  compromise  line 
pf^()0,  Thu.s  stood  the  ciuestion  when  the  nego- 
tiation was  transferred  to  Washington .  Here  I  beg 
the  Senate  to  observe  that  Mr.  Tyler's  Message,  in 
December,  1843,  informed  Congress  that  "  the  ne- 
gotiations for  an  adjustment  and  settlement  had 
again  lieen  proposed,  and  were  in  progress  to  a  re- 
sumption." Yes,  proposed  by  us;  and  tlie  Presi- 
dent said  that  "  every  proper  expedient  would  be 
resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  it  to  a  speedy 
and  happy  termination."  And  again,  by  his  Mes- 
sage to  Congress,  in  December,  1844,  he  said,  "  A 


negotiation  has  been  formally  entered  up'in  be- 
tween the  Secretary  of  Slate  and  hi  r  riiilaimic- 

'  Majesty's 

'  relalivc  to  the 

'  in  luid  over  tin 


iNliiiis'er,  Sir.,  residing  at  Wiisl;ii'gion, 

rig/j/.l   of  till  ir   lrs|iective    liiiliiiUB 

()re;;(in  territory.     That  m/otia- 


'  tilin  is  still  pending."  This,  too,arti  i'  Mr.  I'olk'M 
election — iifter  the  Iialliinore  ConveDlion  of  1^44. 
But  nowliere  could  the  President  find  that  aiiyof  iho 
"  true  friends  of  Oregon"  had  recnrded  their  oppo- 
sition to  il  by  their  votf.s  i\  f'oNwaii.ss.  If  he 
did,  it  is  more  than  I  can  find.  The  Senators  from 
Ohio,  Indiana, and  Illinois,  [Messrs.  Ai.i.i;n,  IIak- 
N'F.d  \\,  and  Rui-F.si:,]  were  all  S.  iiatnrs  at  ihr  lime. 
No,  Mr.  President;  the  Senate  did  not  (d/rivi  nor 
yiro/cs/  itgutiist  negotiation  when  it  was  only  "  in  pro- 
gress to  u  resumption,"  nor  had  Senators  brnughl 
themselves  up  to  the  point,  so  fivr  as  I  know,  of 
only  moving,  so  late  as  two  years  ago,  whilst  there 
was  linu!  iiiid  opportunity  for  it,  to  stop  the  nego- 
tiation itself,  which  has  now  beeoinu  so  uiicuiisti- 
lutional  and  so  dishonorable  to  thenatinii. 

But  again:  He  fmind  that  these  persevering 
elTorts  to  fix  our  iinrtheni  boiuidary  in  Oregon  at 
the  forty-ninth  parallel  by  a  cDinproiniyf — these, 
well-considered  instructions  to  our  rtlinisters,  and. 
often-repeated  propositions  to  the  adverse  claim- 
ants fur  a  compromise — made  before  Spain  had 
released  her  rights,  and  repealed  al\erwards — were 
long  since  expos(.cl  to  the  public  eye;  and  that 
iicitlKU'  the  Peo])le's  Represi'iitatives  ui  Congress, 
nor  the  States,  nor  the  Pciople  thcms(>lves,  had 
(•omplained  against  the  Presidents,  and  States- 
men, -..111  Senators,  who  had  been  endeavoring  to 
accomplish  a  compromise  at  4!)°  for  nearly  lialf  a 
(•entury.  No,  sir.  Until  very  recently,  indeed, 
the  complaints,  when  made  at  all,  were  iiiined  at 
Griul  Britiiin  for  refusing  to  accept  this  n.'asoimblc 
and  just  comp'omisc  of  our  ('(inflicting  '■laims. 
MiMiiorials,  when  sent  at  all,  were  applications  to 
settle  and  adjust  the  controversy;  and  our  efforts 
to  legislate  over  the  subject  were  confined  to  the 
valley  of  the  Columbia  river — this  side  of  4!)'^. 

W(!ll  might  the  President  pause,  then,  notwith- 
standing his  own  individual  ojiinion  that  our  title 
to  the  whole  of  Oregon  was  "  clear  and  unc|ues- 
tionable,"  ere  he  took  the  responsibility,  in  view 
of  all  this,  of  abruptly  putting  a  stop  to  the  nego- 
tiation which  he  fotuid  on  foot,  as  it  had  bc(ni  be- 
gun by  his  immediate  jiredee-e.ssor  upon  «  nrgolia- 
tionfor  a  compromise.  Well  might  he  feel  that  the 
NATION'  was  committed  to  a  compromise.  Well 
might  he  dread  that,  for  him  to  put  his  [lersonal 
opinion  upon  the  stn-ngth  of  ouv  paper  title,  how- 
ever "  clear  and  uiuiuestionable,"  against  a."  these 
sidemn  acts  of  the  Government,  and  against  this 
concurrent  action  and  nc(juiescencc  of  all  our  Pres- 
idiMits  from  Jefi'erson  inclusive,  and  of  all  our 
Stat(\smen,  and  of  all  our  Senators,  (ex'-ejit  Mr. 
D'Wolf,)  and  of  all  our  People  aiul  their  Repre- 
sentatives for  two  generations — constituting,  as 
il  were,  a  nation's  opixion — would  be  sacri- 
ficing the  faith,  consistency,  sincerity,  and  honor 
of  this  country  to  i)rescrvc  the  personal  consist- 
ency of  himself — a  single  mm!  A  mere  politi- 
cian miu.ht  have  halted,  but  a  stati;sman  could 
not.  He  lifted  himself  above  himself,  and  .showed 
liow^  well  he  merits  the  olTico  his  country  has 
appointed  him  to  fill.  God  grant  he  may  stand 
firm  to  his  position! 
And  what  "commits"  a  Nation  but  its  honor? 


i 


5*    ■»'. 


8 


Iloiiorl  National  honor!  Hut  its  ol)li;;alion.s  must, 
\}v  fill,  i\m\  ari'  iio:  i  t(j|)ii'  for  nc^iu/icii/  and  (l«;liatr 
ill  an  Ainci'iiMn  Siiialc  I  liavr  ini|i(i-fiM'tIy  s;rou|)- 
('(1  ihf;  fai'ls  from  our  own  lii.slory.  Senators  naist 
«l(^li'rminc  for  ilirmscUcs,  Apjicalini;-  to  t\]i\r  liiarts 
UK  nmnilors,  I  n.sk  win^llicr  I  was  not  justified  in 
ii.sserlin;j;  that  tin;  President  did  ri;;ht  in  olferiny; 
tlie  line  of  4!)°  im  u  rowpri  u.''r,  l)ceaus(!  the  Nation 
was  thus  committed  to  it  \>y  the  past. 

But  the  Senator  from  Illinois  [Mr.  Hukkhi;] 
has  said,  the  ([ueslion  was  "  a  iicic  one  so  far  as  it 
fnnecrned  the  President,"  hi  'auso  lie  had  a  clear 
opinion  iliit  (uir  title  was  j;ood,  and  gave  that 
Djiinion  ht  fore  his  nomination ;  and  he  seems  to 
think  that  the  Ija!timf)re  Convention  of  the  Demo- 
cratie  party  had  resolved  this  nuitter  out  of  the 
general  rule  and  made  it  a  iino  one  to  this  Admin- 
istration. Stranjje  proposition  !  Passinii;  .stran_2;(! ! 
Of  the  Baltimore  dmvention  I  shall  speak  here- 
ftftcr.  And  now  as  to  Mr.  Polk's  opinion  upon 
our  title.  However  clear  and  whensoever  enter'uiu- 
vd  or  expressed,  let  me  say  that  Mr.  Polk's  opin- 
ion, nor  the  opinions  of  the  Baltimore  Conven- 
tion, nor  those  of  the  People  themselves,  upon 
the  lUlc  lo  Oregon,  touch  this  tiuestion.  All  that, 
has  just  iHjthinji;  at  all  to  do  with  it.  If  the  char- 
netcr,  and  sincerity,  and  faith,  and  honor  of  the 
Nation,  were  committed  to  a  conipromise  before 
Mr.  Polk  was  elected,  they  rcn\ained  so,  notwith- 
standing his  election,  and  notwithstanding  his 
opinion,  or  anybody's  ojiinion,  iij)on  our  title. 

The  men  who  become  Presidents  of  the  Rejiub- 
lic  arc  always  changing;  they  live  and  die,  but  the 
Republic  is  the  same  at  all  times;  and  once  com- 
mitted by  the  public  faith  and  honor  to  no  or  kot 
TO  DO,  even  the  People  cannot  release  the  obliga- 
tion by  anything  short,  of  Revolution,  if  they  could 
by  such  an  extreme  mca';ure  as  that.  The  ques- 
ti(»n,  then,  is  not,  and  was  not,  a  '•  new  one  to  this 
Administration."  The  sovereignty  of  a  nation — 
the  People  themselves,  have  not  a  right  to  uo, 
jmioh  les,s  to  comjiand  another  to  do  a  dhhon- 
oruhle  act — I  mean  an  act  dishonorable  to  the  Na- 
tion in  her  intercourse  with  other  nations.  All 
power  rests  with  the  sovereign  authority;  but 
in  a  Constitutional  government  like  ours,  even 
the  People  may  bind  themselves  against  doing 
wrong.  If  they  would  set  about  taking  oflf  that 
shackle,  they  nmst  revolutionize  and  strike  at  the 
Constitution.  Alter  that,  if  they  choose;  but  even 
the  People  have  no  right  to  do  wrong  to  other 
nations,  and  leave  the  Constitution  as  it  is.  I  honor 
that  statesman  who  can  go  whither  the  honor  of 
his  country  carries  him ,  forgetful  of  himself  and  liis 
personal  convenience,  or  the  consistency  of  his 
mere  opinion.  Had  Mr.  Polk  repeated  his  opin- 
ion of  our  •'  clear  and  unquestionable"  title  for  an 
timen  to  his  daily  prayers  for  years  and  years  to- 
gether, it  would  still  have  been  the  duty  of  the 
Phesidext  to  go  to  the  line  of  49°  as  a  compro- 
mise, if  he  believed,  as  he  says  he  did,  that 
his  country  was  "committed,"  and  the  honor 
and  faith  of  the  nation  bade  him  go  there.  It 
is  still  his  duty  to  do  it,  if  he  sincerely  be- 
lieves what  he  says.  Talk  what  you  may  of 
the  People — flatter  them  as  you  please — yet  in 
spite  of  all  the  one-sided  arguments  upon  our 
title  to  Oregon,  and  the  unfairness  of  preclud- 
ing a  debate  upon  it  here  by  the  clamor  of 
"Bi-itish"  against  every  one  that  doubts  it  for  an 


inch, — only  let  tliis  question  go  to  the  Poojile  of  ih. 
(Jnitcil  States,  whether  ihe  hoiuu'  of  the,  natinii  '.:, 
not  (barer  than  "ere;!/  (deft"  of  Oregon  on  iIk 
other  side  of  4!) — let  the  pronle   hear  and 


iinilcr- 


stand  the  motives  and  the  policy  and  iln;  hnnnral 
necessity  under  which  du;  President  has  acted,  ami 
from  the  mountain  valleys  of  the  West  to  the 
shores  of  the  Atlantic,  they  will  respond  that  llic 
President  has  done  right — ihe  honor  of  our  couiiiry 
before  everything  else  !  If  honesty  and  patriolisni 
did  not  sustain  the  President,  prudence  and  tua. 
would  lend  their  aid;  and  all  the  world  would  .sd: 
that  a  war  for  the  whole  of  Oregon,  when  wi  ;in 
oursidves  divided  in  ojiinion  upon  the  question  di' 
right  to  the  whole  of  it,  and  the  Chief  MagistiMtc 
himself  believed  that  it  was  not  honorable  lo  go  I'm 
our  extreme  right,  would  be  wnilntss.  How  couM 
we  pray  God  to  bless  us  and  to  aid  our  arms  in 
.uich  a  conflict? 

But  Senators,  who  arc  relying  upon  the  Pres- 
ident's Message  to  Congress  as  a  ilcdaration  of 
liostility  to  further  negotiation  and  the  jiledgc  df 
!i  determination  on  his  part  not  to  sr/t/c  this  conim- 
versy  at  all  by  a  |iacific  compromise,  even  if  his 
own  offer  shoidd  be  returned  upon  him,  may  find 
themselves  disappointed.  I  warn  them  that  ihcy 
have  been  deceiving  themselves  by  their  own  inin- 
intcrpretation.  Even  if  there  could  be  found  in  tlic 
"  record"  (as  the  Senator  fror  Ohio  has  culled  hi:: 
Message)  a  line  or  a  sentence  to  stimulate  tlic 
hopes  of  some  Senators  or  to  excite  the  suspicions 
of  others,  I  hope  to  dissipate  them  all  by  a  re- 
view of  his  acts  and  ontissioiis,  and  of  the  words  of 
that  Presidential  "record. "  For  I  undertake  to  s- y, 
that  if  there  he  truth  in  logic,  faith  in  the  i.it'  ;rl:y 
and  virtue  of  public  agents,  and  meaning  in  Eii:;- 
lish  words,  it  can  be  demonstrated  fr^m  the  course 
of  the  Administration,  from  its  acts  of  eommission 
and  acts  of  omission,  and  the  language  of  this 
"  record,"  that  the  President  will  not,  as  heouglii 
not  to,  repel  and  refuse  to  entertain  an  ofler  from 
the  British  Minister  for  a  conipromise,  substan- 
tially the  same  that  he  himself  has  heretofore  pro- 
nosed;  and  that  whilst  the  Senate  are  in  session, 
he  could  not  think  of  such  a  thing  without  their  ad- 
vice. For  he  must  know; — we  do  know  that  a  con- 
stitutional majority  of  that  body  would  prefer  w 
compromise  at  the  line  of  49°  to  an  "  inevitable 
war"  for  the  line  of  54°  40'. 

Upon  this  subject  of  a  war,  suflTer  me  to  say  a 
word  before  I  proceed  to  this  demonstration. 

To  deprecate  war,  as  a  calamity,  by  any  la- 
bored remarks  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and  in 
an  American  Senate,  would  be  a  trcsiiass  upon 
your  time,  and  I  fear  an  insult  to  your  understand- 
ing. But  it  has  been  thought  that  Great  Britain 
will  not  fight  for  Oregon;  and  the  Senator  from 
Illinois,  [Mr.  BiieI':se,]  speaking  for  the  " /n/f 
friends  of  Oregon,"  woulu  almost  seem  to  think 
that  the  only  use  of  any  negotiation  about  this 
matter,  (and  that  he  does  allow  of,)  is,  to  let  her  get 
time  to  quit,  so  as  to  avoid  being  kicked  out  of  tiic 
possession  all  the  way  up  to  54°  40'.  These  arc 
not  his  words,  but  this  is  hardly  a  caricature  of 
the  impression  they  made  upon  the  minds  of  his 
hearers.  Now,  without  going  at  all  into  the  ques- 
tion of  which  country  has  the  best  title  above  the 
line  of  49°,  let  me  ask  the  Senate  to  look  at  the 
map  of  Oregon  printed  by  your  order.  To  cast 
your  eyes  over  it  above  the  49th  parallel — to  see 


I 


>  tlic  People  (if  I  111- 
r  of  tin:  nation  i., 
if  Orrj^iin  on  ilir 
lifar  and  nndi  r- 
iind  till.'  Iionnrallr 
I'nt  liMs  lifted,  mill 
he  West  to  tin 
respond  lliiit  ilii' 
lorof  oiireouuiry 
sty  iind  imtriotiisiii 
ndenee  luid  jii  ;i, 
•  World  wonld  .sic 
;on,  wlien  \v(  ;ii.' 
II  the  (iiiestion  <<( 
Chief  Mn^nstivitr 
Olioruhle  to  go  fur 
iif.ss.  Howeoull 
3  aid  our  i\rr.is  in 

ig  tinon  tlio  Pits 
n  ue(danitioii  of 
ilid   the  jiled^e  nf 
settle  tins  conini- 
iiiise,  oven   if  his 
)ii  liini,  niiiy  fiml 
11  tlieni  that  thiy 
their  own  iiiis- 
d  he  found  in  tlir 
hio  has  ealled  his 
to  .stimulate   tlio 
ite  the  sus[)ieioiis 
icm  all   by  a  rc- 
id  of  the  words  of 
undertake  to.s'v, 
h  in  the  i.if  ;r',;y 
nicanin'^  in  Eiii,'- 
fr  'm  the  course 
ts  of  comniissidii 
angungc  of  this 
not,  as  lie  otigiii 
ill  an  ofler  from 
romise,  substaii- 
s  heretofore  pro- 
e  are  in  session, 
iinthont  their  ad- 
know  that  aeon- 
would  prefer  ,' 
)  an  "  iiicvitaljlo 

fier  me  to  say  a 

lonstration. 

lity,  by  any  lii- 

ccntury,  niid  in 

a  trespass  upon 

f^our  understaiul- 

nt  Great  Britain 

le  Senator  from 

;  for   the  "  Irvc 

seem  to  think 

fvtion  about  this 

)  is,  to  let  her  get 

cickcd  out  of  the 

40'.     These  arc 

a  caricature  of 

he  minds  of  his 

ill  into  the  ques- 

title  above  the 

to  look  at  the 

order.     To  cast 

parallel — to  see 


9 


VVa7.Pr''s  river  oroupird  and  fortified  from  its  mouth  ! 
to  its  sourer;  all  JMiglish  forts  ! — 1>>  reeollect  that  ' 
Ureal  iji'ilain  has  held  |iossession  llore  (or  forty  ! 
years  ami  more  ! — to  bear  in  mind  that  an  Amen- 
I'.iii  settler's  fiMit  (so  far  as  1  know)  iie\(r  imd  that 
soil! — not  to  fiiri^et  that  we  h.ive  been  neu;otialiii^' 
for  t'irty  years,  and  always  olleriii';  to(irr.it  I'.riiaiii 
Id  ('(tniproniise  for  ail  belnw  I''ra/.er's  river! — then 
|o  turn  to  the  Sixth  |  roloeoi  of  (he  n('i.i;otiation  this 
(lay  peiidiii;;  and  undetermined,  uiiil  there  read 
uhat  the  IJriiish  Minister  said,  to  wit,  on  tlie'i4lh 
iifSepteiiiber,  Hll:  "  lie  vasfi^r the  iiresenl  iil>irj;ed 
'  til  deeUire  that  he  did  unt  fiel  (lulharhed  l<>  k.nii.ii 
'  iVTo  A  Disci'ssioM  respectln;^  the  terriliirij  north  of 
'the  VMIi  ininillit  of  liilittide'" — ay,  not  aotliorizid 
to  Discrss  the  Ihitisu  claims  on  this  l''ra/.er's 
river! — and  tiieii  tell  me  if  national  ])ride,  na- 
tional honor,  and  every  consideration  that  can 
stimulate  a  nation  to  war,  would  not  compel 
(ireat  I'ritain  to  resist,  should  our  Government 
midi  rtalui  to  dislodge  her  settlements  there,  after 
lirst  rudely  terminating  the  negotiation,  iiml  lioldiy 
(leejaring  that  compromise  is  inadmissilih; — yes, 
even  our  own  otl'i-,  fur  two  i^eneratiiins,  out  ol" 
ihe([i>  stion — "  All  or  none" — •'  The  whole  or  a 
fight."  In  such  a  case.  Great  Britain  mtisl  fighf, 
she  ov!i;ht  to  figlit;  and  she  trnuld  fight.  If  the 
Senator  will  permit  i.ic  to  sujipose  !iim  .  i.  >'nglish- 
iiian,  to  him  I  put  the  (juestion,  then:  V/t  i  you 
an  Englishman,  would  you  not  resist;  would  you 
Motfiu'ht?  And  if  you  woalil  fight  Wi.e  you  an 
/■Ja^^/i.t/imrtii,  what,  being  an  .'ImerUdii  St(iti':'iiai\, 
have  you  done  witli  t'ne  goldi  n  r  !c— what  with 
the  Jackson  rule — whilst  you  are  thus  "  dcma.iul- 
iiig  what  is  not  right  •" 

I  propo^•e  now  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Senate 
1(1  the  ACTS  of  the  President  having  an  iuimcdiate 
'•onnexion  with  the  inquiry  of  v.iiat  is  his  posi- 
tion. 

His  acts  of  commission:  What  are  they  ?  Look 
to  the  "  records"  and  see.  Therein  you  find  that 
he  himself  ofi'orcd  the  line  of  lir^  as  a  (compromise 
last  August.  He  made  th.'U  oli'er  uorv.ithstanding 
his  "  settled  convit^tion"  individually,  then  as  well 
.IS  now,  that  our  title  w;is  "  clear  antl  untpiestion- 
uiile" — not  unquestioned,  but  unqticstionable — 
not  liie  only  claim,  but  "  the  best  in  existence." 
[le  admitted  in  so  many  words  to  the  British  Gov- 
ernment that  he  felt  "  committed"  as  a  Chief  Ma- 
gistrate of  the  Nation.  lie  tells  Congress  that  lie 
was"  committed."  "Committed,"  I  say,  by  every 
thing  but  the  Bond  of  the  United  States!  I  have 
already  shown  that,  in  saying  and  in  doing  all 
tliis,  ho  only  did  what  it  was  r/g/j?  in  him  to  do  as 
a  President  of  the  United  Stit'cs.  At  all  events  he 
has  solemnly  declared  to  the  world  tli,<t  sueh  was 
his        '   '  --     •  -  ■ 

his 


nation  il.self,  happen  to  bo  muriie.l  upon  me,  1 
will  not  r'liti'rtain  it !"  "Tln're  ^htdl  Ik  no  com- 
proiTi'sc" — "No  cmisullation  with  the  Senate'" — 
"  All  of  Oregon  or  none" — "  .'il''* 'lO',  llu'lit  or  ii'i 
fig'nt!"  Oh,  my  ( lod,  what  tin  aitiiude  i.s  ilii.sfora 
man's  friend  to  assume   tor  him! 

I  liiara  Senator  behind  ine  say  frmn  his  seat, 
"'/'/((  l're::ident  hiLs  jtnl  him.  rlj'  titrre  '"  Never!  nev- 
er I  //('  has  not  said  it.  It  is  nowhere  on  ihe  "  rec- 
ords." This  kind  olliee  has  been  performed  for  him 
liy  his  "  friends,"  who  seem  determined  to  !iav(! 
hiscoinpaiiy;  and  beeause  they  :;d  ('or  "  AliofOre- 
■j:<tt\  or  none,''  to  take  the  Admiiiislratiiui  along 
with  i!h  111  liy  e(insiruelioii,atany  and  everv  pi  ril,li) 
its  ('(.nsisteiicy  and  to  tiie  pea.'i-  of  ihe  l^iited  States. 
No,  sir!  no,  sir!  The  Presiijeiil  has  not  piii/N'm- 
s(7/'into  that  position.  Had  he  done  it,  (U*  if  Ik; 
should  do  it;  I  for  one  do  not  hesiiatf!  to  rleclare 
that  it  would  compel  me  t(»  turn  my  back  upon 
him  and  his  Adiiiinistratioii.  I  have  iml  that  frieiiit 
upon  earlh  whom  I  wniihl  snppinl  in  a  position 
so  incimsi.steiil  with  his  own  professions  of  high 
devotion  to  his  country's  hoiioi — so  injurious  to 
this  grciit  Nation's  tame — so  perilous  lo  the  wiirl(!".< 
peace.  The  President  made  not  a  manly  oil'ering  to 
the  cimimitted  chariictiM"  of  our  country  and  to  the. 
peace  of  the  world,  that  hu  might  inglorimisly 
snatch  it  back  again  before  it  could  be  acceptetl, 
sim|ily  and  .singly  because  it  was  not  sei/.eil  upon 
in  the  day,  or  inonlli,  or  year  he  oll'ered  il.  1  a.sic 
his  pardon  for  llu'  supposiiiim  thai  he  could.  For 
one,  I  do  ni)t  doniit  h'in.  Before.  1  will  do  it,  he 
must  sign  a  plain  recantation,  1  would  hardly  be- 
lieve that.  He  must  i")  rii!';  roi'i.  ui;iiu  belbro  I 
surrender  my  t'aith. 

Wliiit  if  it  was  trithdriivn  after  its  last  rejection  •' 
That  is  nothing,  for  it  had  i)ecn  in  like  manner  iri//t- 
f/)'i'icu  by  his  predecessors.  If  their  withdrawid  iii 
1H17  anil  I8-27  left  the  Ciovernmenl  still  eonimiited, 
how  I'.oiild  it  b(;  oiherv.MM'.  bfviuise  he  w  iilidicw  the 
same  offer  in  ]dl,')?  '["his  plea  would  be  a  miser- 
able suliterfuge,  and  no  Senator  will  adopt  \i  in 
the  name  of  the  ['resident;  none  can  do  it,  tii.d  call 
it  ,111  act  of  friendship  to  him. 

iVIr.  President,  ought  not  this  one  act,  of  itself, 
to  be  cmiclusive  against  thi\se  lalse  consirucliim.s 
of  the  Alessage?  I'lit  it  is  not  all.  We  are  in 
possession  of  more — niiieli  more — in  these  "  rec- 
ords;" for  it  is  to  them  I  speak.  Tlie  Pre-idcnt 
knows  his  own  purposes  best — where  he  intendfj 
to  slop,  and  whether  he  has,  in  truth,  already 
terminated  his  edbrts  to  neu'ciiale  a  cumjironiise. 


He  knows  that,  if  he  terminates  negotiation,  and 
rashly  encounters  the  hazard  of  asserting  our  ex- 
treme claims  to  the,  ic/im'i'  of  Ori'g'.'d  up  to  .")4^  40', 
the  United  S'tites  must  eillier  rt  treat  inghn-iously 
opinion.  Having  "  eomtnitti^d"  himself  by  j  frtnn  her  pretensions  or  pre; lare.  to  dislfnlge  Great 
own  declaration,    and  by   his   correspondent     Britain  and   to  defend   hersi  !f  by  fmre  of  arm.s ! 


act,   who  is  a  "friend"  of  the  ['resident  in  this  '  That  I  t!iink  I  have  tilready  proved.    And  yet,  oh! 


Senate  and  yet  will  dare  to  say  of  him,  or  bavin: 
said  so,  will,  on  that  account,  adhere  to  declaring 
ihat  he  ought,  or  thai,  he  can,  bn  underslnod  now 
;is  speaking  lo  us  for  liini^H''fli>i  tkr  same  "  reenrd.-i." 
Such  langn'age  as  ibis,  "•  I  recant  il  .all."  "  True, 
my  Cnnntrij  was  conimitted  by  the  a-.ts  of  my 
la-edecessors."     "True,    I  have  in  my  ovv"n  jier- 


siin 

to  yield  some  portion  of  what  I  believed  to  be  her 

strict  right."     "  But.  should  the  ofler  of  my  pvc- 

ilccessors  already  adoptcl  by  me,  as  tlrit  of  the 
* 


what  till  OMbiSlOX  I  No  notice  has  been  given 
for  tliis  nec(  s>iiy  to  Coagre  s  or  ihe  people  plainly 
and  directly,  as  it  ouu'ht  to  have  been.  No  rec- 
ommeiulations  to  Congress  to  prepare  for  our  dc- 
feii  'e,  or  for  ihe  I'lrcilile  assertion  of  our  rights, 
art;  in  these  "  records!"  To  prepare  now — to-day. 
No  estimates  icive  ipe(  n  si  !ii  iiii  to  us  for  tliat  ob- 


ofl'ered   to   redeem   her  honor  by  a   jiroposal  |  ject.    None.    N- 


otliin:: 


of  ih.i  kind.    The  estimates 


ire  lowered,  nit  increased  !  Wliat  is  the  inference.' 
What  does  he  mean  that  you  shall  understand  by 
I'us?    That  there  is,  on  /.is  /)«r/,  no  intention  to 


If' 


,„3* 


4. 


10 


S,*,1 


I 


compr  ■m'lsc.-  Tliat  ncc;otialion  has  come  to  an  end, 
and  will  not  be  imrsiu'd  by  him?  And  will  not 
his  friends  jierniit  ther.iselvcs  to  ser,  when  the)' 
thus  niis''onKtruc  Jiis  MesKago,  that  they  involve 
the  President,  were  it  true,  in  a  guilt  too  deep  for 
(lei;-cnt  utterance.- — An  inexcusable,  treacherous, 
cowardly,  criminal  concealment  of  our  country's 
danger;  when,  if  in  reality  there  is  to  be  no  further 
nei!;oLiauon  on  our  ]iart,  there  can  be  no  excuse — 
no  reason — no  pretext — fav  silence.  But  the  con- 
struction is  false:  President  Polk  would  not  betray 
his  c'.mtry  thus.  Depend  upon  it,  he  would  have 
told  you  plainly  and  directly  of  it,  if  he  hud  aban- 
doned )!egotintion  on  his  jjart;  not  daring  tlius  to 
bring  you  to  an  "  inevitable  war,"  or  a  worse  alter- 
native, for  "  All  of  Oregon  or  none,"  against  your 
conseiit,  and  witiiout  notice  to  prepare  for  it.  That 
he  has  not  so  warned  and  so  informed  you  plainly, 
is,  to  my  mind,  conclusive. 

Nor  is  this  all.  The  President  knows,  as  well 
as  he  knows  the  faces  of  Senators,  that  a  very 
large  proportion,  I  will  not  sny  how  many,  of 
those  wlio  expect  to  vote  this  notice  into  his  handss 
are  favorable  to  negotiation  for  a  comprnmisc  at 
41)^;  and  that  we  ^vould  not  do  it,  not  ior  am  in- 
stant WOULD  I  THIKK  OF  DOING  IT,  if  WC  bclieVcd 

the  construction  that  has  been  placed  upon  his  Mes- 
sage by  the  Senators  of  Ohio,  [Mr.  Ai.i.f.v,]  Indi- 
ana, [Mr.  Hannf.gan,]  and  Illinois,  [Mr.  Breksf,;] 
and,  perhaps,  also — 1  am  not  certain — by  the 
Senator  from  Michigan,  [Mr.  Cass.]  He  must 
know — he  docs  know — that  we  would  not  vote 
for  it  if,  on  the  contrary,  we  did  not  confidently 
believe,  from  his  past  conduct,  and  the  absence  of 
any  plain  recantalioii  in  the  Message,  that  this 
notice  will  be  used  as  a  means  of  jmrsuing  the 
pending  negotiation  upon  tlie  basis  of  compromise, 
as  a  moral  instrument  to  help,  and  not  to  hinder 
it,  as  it  has  been  heretofore  conducted  by  him- 
self and  his  predecessors.  And,  yet,,  is  there  a 
Senator  lierc  to  speak  to  us  and  say,  that  he  is 
uuthodzed  to  nmhcdve.  us; — if,  indeed,  we  have 
been  thus  deceived .'  No  answer?  Then  there  is 
no  one.  Then  the  President  has  authorized  no- 
body to  speak  for  him,  and  confirm  tliis  senato- 
rial interpretation  of  his  Message,  as  made  by  the 
•'  true  friends  of  Oregon."  I  do  believe  he  would 
have  done  tliat,  and  more  than  that,  rather  than  de- 
ceive and  betray  f:o  many  of  this  Senate.  I  am  there- 
fore friend  enough  to  the  President  to  doubt  and  to 
deny  this  false  construction  and  faithfulness  to  my 
trust  as  a  Senator  compels  mc  to  do  it,  as  from  my 
heart  I  do  this  day,  opeidy,  before  tlie  American 
Senate.  If  any  one  here  be  now  authorized  to 
speak  for  him,  let  him  speak. 

I  come  to  one  other  act  of  omission,  whicli  I 
mention  without  the  slightest  intentional  discour- 
tesy to  the  honorable  Senator  from  Ohio,  [Mr. 
Alli:n;1  but  the  facts  are  well  known  to  the  Sen- 
ate; and  the  omission  to  which  I  allude  bears  too 
strongly  upon  the  point  before  me  to  be  altogether 
pretermitted.  Mr.  President,  my  subject  is  too 
important  for  me  to  sacrifice  truth  and  arirument 
to  any  false  delicacy.  It  is  no  question  of  dollars 
and  cents;  but  it  is,  as  I  regard  it,  and  as  this 
Senate  looks  at  it,  a  question  of  peace  or  war — 
honor  or  dislionor  to  my  country.  Tlie  chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  then,  has 
always  been  regarded,  in  the  practice  of  legislative 
bodies,  as  a  depository  of  the  Executive  purposes 


I 


and  opinions,  jmrnfe  as  well  as  public,  in  so  far  a. 
they  are  connected  with  our  foreign  relations.  | 
do  not  say  he  is  required  or  expected  to  tell  tin 
Senate  anything  confitltnlially  entrusted  to  him 
By  no  means.  Not  at  all.  But  heretofore  it  has 
sufficed  if  he  met  imprudent  inquiries  by  an  ex- 
pressive silence — by  his  sinqde  luiexplained  waivci 
of  unsafe  interrogatories  we  could  know  wluii 
we  were  about.  Ifow  is  it  in  this  matter?  Tin 
honorable  chairman,  with  most  alarming  em- 
phasis, more  than  once,  when  he  was  stinudatiii 
y  no  question  from  others,  but  of  hia  own  head 
and  imagination — 1  grant  you,  of  his  own  "clem 
and  imqucstioned"  right — has  assumed  to  construf 
the  Message  for  us,  as  a  record  by  which  tin 
President  had  both  pledged  himrelf  and  notified  //u 
Senate  that  tliere  would  be  no  further  negotiatioi, 
for  a  compromise.  I  hoped  he  was  mistaken,  and 
I  always  believed  he  was.  This  ha.^  been  iterated 
and  reiterated  in  tlic  Senate  by  the  lionorabh, 
chairman  and  other  Senators;  and  it  has  gone  to 
the  world,  where  it  will  be  hastily  talcen  up  by  thou- 
sands, as  though  it  had  lieen  an  AUTHORIZED 
exposition  of  the  views  and  intentions  of  the  Ad- 
ministration. More  recently,  the  Honoraljle  Chair- 
man proclaimed  that  the  President's  opinions  and 
views  had  undergone  "  no  shadow  of  turning;'' 
but,  in  answer  to  a  direct  inquiry  put  to  him  on 
the  floor  of  the  Senate  by  the  honorable  Senatoi 
from  Maryland,  [Mr.  Johnson,]  it  was  distinctly 
admitted  by  himself  that  the  "  records,  and  tlu 
records  AtONE,"  were  the  sources  from  whicli 
he  derived  an)^  authoritj'^  thus  to  commit  the  Pres- 
ident against  negotiation.  In  a  word:  that  the 
Honorable  Chairman's  speeches  were  but  infer- 
encps  of  the  Senator — not  authorized  interpretations 
by  liie  chainnan.  From  the  "  records  ALONE." 
Mark  that! 

The  Honorable  Chairman  of  Foreigii  AlTairs. 
then,  it  appears,  has  not  obtained  and  does  not 
possess,  confidentially,  the  views  and  purposes  of 
the  President;  and  wliat  he  has  given  ua  was  tlic 
logic  of  his  mind,  not  an  authorized  dictum  of  his 
office.  After  his  own  declaration  in  the  Senate,  it 
would  be  doing  him  great  injustice  to  insinuate  or 
to  suspect  otherwise,  or  that  he  meant  anything 
else. 

Here  then  we  see  a  Committee  of  Foreign 
Affairs  in  the  Senate  for  more  than  two  months  iii 
possession  of  a  great  subject,  and  with  these  iden- 
tical "  records"  referred  to  them  for  consideration 
— early  notice  asked  for — a  resolution  reported, 
and  speeches  delivei-ed— ^jut  no  communication 
has  been  made  to  the  chairman  intimating  thsu 
his  senatorial  construction  of  the  President's  mean- 
ing is  true  or  false!  If  theconstmction  be  not  true, 
wc  see  a  reason  for  the  President's  silence.  How- 
ever painful  to  him  personally,  he  owed  it  to  all  the 
proprieties  of  his  own  public  station,  and  to  tht 
service  of  the  Republic,  not  to  speak  beforehand 
of  his  future  purposes  in  a  negotiation  through 
the  Chairman  or  any  body  else.  If  the  construc- 
tion, however,  be  true,  the  duty  of  the  President 
would  be  a  plain  our;  to  himself,  to  the  Senate,  and 
to  the  Nation.  He  should  have  authorised  thai 
committee  to  set  the  country  right  at  once,  by  con- 
I  firming  the  Senator's  interpretation  to  the  letter,  and 
bringing  the  Senate  to  one  mind  about  what  it  is 
he  means,  and  what  it  is  he  wants  with  a  notico 
after  liaving  determined  to  go  for  "All  ofOrcgon"— 


'No 

iiiiful 

make 

('liairtl 

iVn-ncil 

iinr  tr 

PrcsidI 


lubllc,  ill  .so  fiir  a. 
eigii  relations.  | 
pcctcd  to  tell  tin 
;ii trusted  to  liini 

heretofore  it  hiis 
quiric3  by  an  ec- 
lexjiliiincu  waivo 
luld  know  wluii 
lii.s  matter.'  TIk 
st  nlarming  em- 
10  was  stimulati-il 
of  Ilia  own  head 
f  his  own  "clcai 
sinned  to  constriu 
rd  by  which  tlu 
elf  and  notified  tin 
Lirther  neijjotiutioi: 
tas  mistaken,  and 
1  hiui  been  iterated 
y  the  honorabli. 
nd  it  has  gone  tu 
taken  up  by  thou- 
AUTHORIZED 
ntion.'s  of  the  Ad- 
Honorable  Chair- 
nt's  opinions  and 
low  of  turning;'' 
ry  put  to  liim  on 
lonorable  Scnatoi 

it  was  distinctly 
*  records,  and  tlu 
urces  from  whicli 
conunit  the  Pr<',-;- 
L  word:  tliat  tiic 
5  wei'e  L)Ut  in  fir - 

d  intcrprctaticins 
cords  ALONE.' 

Forcifjn  Affairs. 
;d  and  does  not 
and  purposes  of 
vcn  U3  was  tin; 
ed  dictum  of  lii.'i 
in  the  Senate,  it 
to  insinuate  or 
meant  anythini; 

ttce  of  Foreign 
two  months  in 

with  these  idcii- 
)r  consideration 

lution  reported, 
comnmnication 
intimating  that 
esident's  meaii- 

tion  be  not  true, 
silence.    How- 

>wcd  it  to  all  the 

ion,  and  to  tlit 

leak  bcforehrnul 
tiation  through 
f  the  construe- 
the  Piesident 
the  Senate,  and 
authorized  tlia! 
t  once,  by  coii- 

0  the  letter,  and 
bout  what  it  i^ 

with  a  notico 

1  ofOrc'Ton"— 


wm 


11 


'  No  comiiromiso" — "  No  negotiation  !"  To  my 
iiiind  it  ajipcars,  therefore,  that  this  omission  to 
make  the  customary  cnnfidnifiitl  diKcli!sur''s  to  the 
('hairman  of  Forci;i;n  Affairs,  is  preu;naiit  with  in- 
iVrcnccs.  More  especially  as  we  know  that  Son- 
unr  to  be  the  personal  and  jiolitical  friend  of  the 
President,  but  one  who  has  committed  himself, 
md  would  seem  inclined,  I  must  sny,  to  carry  the 
Administration  with  him,  either  before  or  behind, 
.ijainst  all  compromise,  and,  coiiscquendy,  ngainst 
;;11  negotiation.  I  do  not  say,  that  these  miscon- 
^u•uctions  arc  wilful.  I  never  harbored  a  thought 
•Jiat  they  were. 

But,  again,  Mr.  President:  Tf  the  Adminislra- 
•ion  wished  to  stop  all  ncf>;otialirin,  on  tkcir  part, 
■lothing  was  easier  than  for  the  President  of  the 
United  States  to  do  all  that  without  coming  to  Con- 
ltcss  at  all.  By  the  general  law  of  nations  and  of 
I'linunon  sense,  we  know  that  this  convention  of 
[•^•21  might  have  been  abrogated  by  the  mulaal  con 
Mil?  of  the  parties  to  it.  That  is  precisely  the  mode 
ia  which  a  new  treaty  annuls  an  existing  conven- 
;ion.  Beyond  all  controversy,  the  President,  i.i 
virtue  of  his  constitutional  power  to  propose  nego- 
liiUion  and  to  make  treaties  with  foreign  Gov'.'rn- 
nicnts,  had  authority,  without  the  knowledge  or 
•onsent  of  Con;j;rfSs,  to  make  a  proposition  to  the 
British  Minister  to  annul  the  convention  of  1827, 
by  the  mutual  consent  of  both  Governments,  and 
:here  to  stop.  I  think  it  is  highly  probable  that 
'his  proposition  mig'it  have  been  acce])ted.  Put 
wliat  if  it  had  not  .■"  Is  there  a  Senator  who  doubts 
Juit  such  a  proposition,  whether  agreed  to  or  not 
oy  Great  Britain,  would  have  tcrmiiuited  and  of  it- 
self have  put  an  end  to  the  prndins;  negotiation /(;;•« 
compromise;  and  that  the  British  Minister,  if  he  had 
not  taken  leave  of  the  country,  would  have  been 
itbligcd  to  take  short  leave  of  this  suhjcct  of  Orc- 

Why,  then,  was  it  not  done?  Why  was  it  not 
ttompted  "  in  that  manner.'"  Why  was  that 
iiiore  ready  and  direct  manner  of  terminating  the 
w'^olialion for  a  compromise  and  abrogating  the  con- 
vention of  1827  omitted  altogether.'  Tlierc  is  no 
mswer  consistent  with  the  republican  integrity 
aid  iiiauly  patriotism  of  our  President,  except  that 
ivhich  !  have  already  insisted  uj)on: — That  he  did 
iiot  wish  to  put  a  stop  to  negotiation  on  his  part. 
That  he  stands  upim  the  line  of  40°  asa  coin/irw- 
mse,  by  the  side  of  the  nation's  honor,  as  he  un- 
ii'vstands  it.  Tiiat  he  stands  there  to-day,  as  he 
lid  last  December,  with  the  crown  of  peace  upon 
:.is  head,  and  he  has  not  asked  to  be  clothed  in  the 
inoply  of  tcrtr.  Tb.at  ho  wants  peace,  honorable 
icace — not  war,  dislionorable  war! 

Mr.  President,  I  am  very  loth  to  trespa.ss  upon 

l.r  patience  of  the  Senate;  and   perhajis  I  might 

ifcly  stop   here.      But  your  indulgent  attention 

'■acouragcs  me  to  proceed;  and  as  I  proposed  at 

'ii.s  point,  so  I  invite  you  to  look  and  see  wlii'ther 

lie  \cords  of  the  "record"  are,  alas!  so  plain,  and 

'if'ir  meaning  so  clear,  as  to  exchide  those  infer- 

aces  which  the  confidence  of  a  generous  tViendship, 

ae  justice  of  a  Senate,  and  even  the  ordinary  cliai'i- 

■y  of  any  man,  might  accord  to  the  President  of  the 

I'nilcd  States,  in  a  full  view  of  that  which  1  have 

'ready  imporfocUy  nniewed.     IJelorc  rioing  that, 

i  remark,  however,  that  when  Senators  talk  a.bout 


I  making  the  inference  from  thrsn  "  rcc(n-.!s"  iliat 
]  the  negotiati.n  ia  at  an  end,  tluy  forget  that  tho 
fact  ai'jjears  in  their  face  direetlv  oj)posile  lo  tlieir 
infirenrc.  The  negotiation  whie-li  lugun  in  ]Mi\ 
Tyler's  time,  and  which  has  heen  c()n:in:;cd  by 
President  Polk,  is,  in  reality,  a  pciuhng  m  gnti- 
alion  this  very  day.  It  never  has  h(M.ai  tinn'i.uilid, 
on  fiur  part,  up  to"  the  hour  when  I  am  addres.-<ing 
this  Senate.  Only  discriminate  for  a  nnnnent  l.c- 
tween  a  negotiation  and  the  rnrrispfndrnre  of  ihc 
Ministers,  and  the  fact  is  at  once  palpably  bcforo 
yon.  A  negotiation  may  be  open,  and  continued, 
whilst  the  correspondence  of  the  Ministers  may  be 
suspended,  or  delaycil  for  a  mDiiili  or  a  year. 
This  distinction  nec'ds  but  to  be  stated  in  .'=:o  en- 
lightened a  l)oily  as  this.  Illusfra'ions  would  bo 
u.seless  and  unprofitahle  TIF.ll!'!.  Vet  may  I  not 
be  |)ardo:ii!d  for  r(;ininding  you  tliat  a  iicgolia- 
tion,  in  the  jn'oper  sciisi',  is  a  husine.ss  bi  twceii 
two  Uorcrnmcnts,  as  Gorernnients — opened  by  their 
mutual  consent  a.s  Governments  to  treat  witii  one 
another  upon  S'tiitc  atrairs;  aiul  wh.ich  once  opened, 
cannot  be  amicaidy  conehuled  without  a  li!:e  mu- 
tual consent,  (as  l)y  a  treaty  or  a  convention.)  ex- 
cept one  of  the  parlies  shall  first  dirrcthj  notifij  Ihc 
other  of  its  intention  to  dose  it. 

I  think  this  definition,  if  not  precisely  ac-urato, 
is  enough  so  to  answer  the  purpose  of  presenting 
this  point  to  the  mind  of  the  Senate  distinctly, 
and  that  is  all  I  shall  aim  to  do,  making  no  re- 
ferences to  dictionaries  or  aiitliorilies.  Willi  this 
distinction  in  our  mimh!,  it  will  be  seen  that  if 
the  President  had  said  to  Co, igress  in  so  many 
words,  "  Nc:;otiation  has  tenyiiinited;"  it  would 
I  have  heen  nothing  liut  the  mistaken  statement  r.i  a 
'  fact,  so  long  as  a  reference  to  the  "whole  corre- 
spondence" clearly  showed  the  faet  to  be  otlier- 
wise.  The  President's  own  direct  .statement  could 
not  alter  the  fact.  If  it  wouhi  be,  so,  were  the  state- 
ment unerjuivocal  and  direct,  what  is  to  be  said  of 
a  mere  INI''I':RENCE  by  his  "friends,"  fr.-iu 
equivocal  laugr.agc,  but  that  it  is  a  FALSE  IN- 
FEllK.N'CE?  Now,  then,  this  wliole  corn  spond- 
cnee  does  sliow  clearly  that  the  negotiation  wa.s 
regularly  opened;  but  it  nowlieri;  appears  that 
the  President  has  notified  the  Eriiish  iVTinister,  or 
that  tiie  British  Minister  has  notified  the  President, 
of  any  unwillingness  to  ]iursue  it,  nor  that  they 
have  (/ii'/itf/if/j/ agreed  to  terminate  it;  and  thcrefiU'O 
it  is  still  open.  On  the  contrary,  the  Britisli  INIin- 
ister  wa.s  informed  by  the  President  (page  H.'))  llia.t 
ho  earnestly  "  hoped  that  this  long  pending  con- 
'  troversy  may  yi'X  he  finally  adjustinl  in  such  a 
'  manner  as  not  to  disturb  the  peace  or  interriqit  the. 
'  harmony  now  so  hap[iily  r-ubsisting  b(  twecn  the 
'  two  nations."  That  hope  is  .again  e;qiressr(l 
upon  ihe  occasion  of  our  r<:fiisal  to  ARfUTI'.VTI^,. 
Great  Britain  so  uiuha-stands  it;  and  ac'-ordingly 
wc  see  lua-  Minisicrs  dailv  in  our  streetr!,  and  our 
intercourse  with  Great  Britain  is  as  friend!)  as  it 
ever  was. 

The  assertion  or  the  inference,  therefore,  that  thi.s 
neg :)!iati(m  has  been  concluded,  is  thus  sIkiwii  to 
be  directly  contrary  to  an  ascertained  FACT;  and 
every  atteinnt  to  prove  it  i.-".  a  most  aljsurd,  may 
I  say  a  ridiculous,  attenii't  lo  prove  befirfo  aii 
American  Senate  that,  wliieh  we  hoth  see  and 
know,  from  the  "  record  its'.lf,''  iJ  '>  UNTIIUE. 


i 


T    1 


12 


m 


i 

5" 


Nea;ot'nlio)i,  tlion,  in  its  proiirrKensTjiKpciidinj;^. 
What  iicgotiiition  r  WImt  nt's;otiiUi()ii  is  it?  That 
same  uncoMcUidcd  iitL'oiiation  which,  by  the  first 
prntncnl,  our  Gnvcrnmiiil  H;:^fced,  in  writing!;,  to  ap- 
nroacli  "  in  the  spirit  of  compromise,"  (pafj;o  36.) 
That  same  iinroncludcd  negotiation  which  Presi- 
dent Polk  declared  to  the  British  Minisler  he  had 
"determined  to  pxiv.mc  to  its  conclusion,  upon  the 
principle  of  com/))w;iisr,"  (jiage  62.)  That  same 
negotiation  in  which  President  Polk  admitted  to 
the  Britisli  Minister  that  this  Government  was 
•'  connnitted "'  to  "  u  comiiromise"  which  he  ofiered 
to  Gniit  Britain,  (tnii^c'  62.)  That  same  negotia- 
tion in  which  the  Pn  sident  said  to  Congress  tliat 
he  was  "committed"  by  tiic  conduct  of  his  pre- 
decessors to  oder  the  line  of  49°  ns  a  compromise, 
and  that  lie  had  tlu  rcfore  superadded  his  own  offer 
of  it  to  tliL'ir  precedents,  (pages  10,  11.)  That 
.^amc  negotiation  whereof  he  declared  to  Congress 
tluit  tlic  "Bri/?s/i  jiroposition"  to  ua  '<'.  "wholly 
inadmissible  and  cannot  be  entertained,"  with  a 
due  regard  to  our  honor,  w(!rc  it  re-offered;  but  in 
which  he  has  NEVER  said  that  he  would  refuse 
to  entertain  the  ^liurr'icnn  proposition- if  it  should 
be  returned  upon  jiim  again.  But  he  does  admit, 
and  by  hiscomhicl  lie  has  confirmed  the  truth  of  it, 
that  the  .Qmrr'uan  proposition  fen-  compromise  was 
consistent  with  our  honor  and  demanded  by  his 
regard  for  the  national  cliaracter.  Yet,  Mr.  Pres- 
ident, have  you  been  constrained  to  sit  liere  and 
listen  to  a  long  and  (I  fear  it  will  be)  a  tedious 
.speech  from  me,  to  jirove,  to  demonstrate,  tliat  the 
President  has  nt,t  tcnninalediui^otinlinn  ox  ins  paht, 
and  that  he  has  not  resolved  not  to  romprom'tfc  this 
conti-uvrrsij,  almost  upon  his  own  terms,  should 
Great  Britain  ask  liim  to  do  it. 

One  or  two  general  remarks  upon  the  charac- 
ter of  tiie  Message,  I  must  make,  before  I  dissect 
those  jKirticular  sei\tences  which,  by  being  separa- 
ted from  their  context  and  improperly  associated 
and  identified  with  the  opinions  of  Mr.  Polk  upon 
our  piipcr  tillc,  have  misled  so  many  people. 

If  f'lr  the  sake  of  being  understood  I  .«liould 
lie  guilty  (if  occasional  repetitions,  I  praj-  the  Senate 
to  excuse,  me.  1  will  be  ns  brief  as  I  can.  So  f-ir 
as  the  President's  Message  touches  upon  ORE- 
GON, it  is  not  and  was  not  designed  to  be  a  dis- 
closure of  his  purposes  and  opinions  in  the  future 
progress  oi'nef^oli(ition,\)\\l  of  his  past  «f/!o?i  only. 
vVliat  is  said  in  the  Messacre,  from  the  begiiming 
to  the  end  of  it,  aliout  npi^oliaHon,  is  nothin-:  more 
than  a  nurrutive  of  the  President's  ACTION  up 
to  that  time;  and  the  whole  correspondence  is  at- 
tached to  let  Congress  sec  and  know  for  them- 
selves what  he  had  DONE — with  perhap.s  tm  occa- 
sional introduction  (as  if  by  way  of  parenthesis) 
o!'tlie  motives  and  opinions  by  which  he  had  bceji 
indueiiced  to  deviate  in  that  ACTION  from  an  as- 
sertion of  our  iwlreme  claim  to  all  of  Oregon.  Now 
it  is  chiefly  from  the  unfortunate  sticking-in  of 
these  |);!rcnthetica!  excuses  to  satisfy  theiiltraism  of 
the  Presidciit's  "  true  friends  of  Oregon"  that  the 
misconstruction  of  his  Message  has  arisen — stim- 
ulated, I  know,  by  (external  causes;  but  to  which 
I  will  allude  no  fiu'ther  at  present.  I  speak  of  the 
Message  as  I  i-ead  it,  and  according  to  my  own 
mind  and  judgintiit  upon  it;  not  BY  AUTHORI- 
TY.    I\i  concluding  tiiis  narrative,  and  precisely 


where  it  concluded,  (page  11,)  the  President  du. 
proceed  to  express  his  ojiinion,  upon  "evidence" 
referred  to  as  "satisfactory,"  that  "no  compro- 
mise which  u'c  ought  to  accept  can  be  efficled." 

If  lie  alluded  to  the  future,  he  might  or  might  not 
be  mistaken  in  his  conclusion;  but  if  to  that  time — 
the  time  present — it  is  a  harmless  fact,  as  if  he  hml 
said,  none /ta.s  fce<;n  eflecled.  I  commend  to  youi 
consideration  cither  one  of  these  alternatives. 

Ilis  reasons  for  it  are  given;  and  they  consi.st 
altogether  ofthe.se  facts: 

1st.  That  t!ie  British  Minister  had  made  a  prop- 
osition that  was  "  inadmissible." 

2d.  That  he  had  rejected  one  which  our  Gov- 
ernment had  matle,  "  without  submitting  any  other 
proposition,  and  had  suffere'I  the  negotiation,  ON 
HIS  PART,  to  stop."  The  Senate  can  judge  ot' 
their  sufficiency. 

At  all  events,  it  was  "  with  this  conviction," 
continues  the  Message,  that  the  American  offer, 
which  had  been  made  and  rejected,  icns  xcitlidraicn, 
(p.  1 1)— THAT  IS  ALL !  Whether  a  fact  or  an 
opinion,  for  the  future  or  the  present,  it  was  made 
the  basis  of  his  witudrawino  the  rejected  of- 
KER,  AND  NOTiiiNi;  MORE.  And  HOW  what  be- 
comes of  all  the  inferences  made  from  this  single 
sentence  ? 

Again :  it  is  to  be  observed  that  he  did  not  express 
any  determination  of  his  own  mind  in  respect  tu 
his/ti/i((-e  course;  but  the  fair  inferences  to  be  madi' 
from  the  words  of  the  Message  are,  that,  ■u;itlicul 
"this  conviction,"  the  American  jiroposition  wouM 
not  have  been  withdrawn  at  all;  and  upon  the  sup- 
position or  contingency  of  a  change  of  "  this  con- 
viction," by  the  British  Minister  ceasing  "on  his 
part  to  stop,"  he  did  not  declare  nor  intimate  thiU 
his  own  offer  had  become  also  inadmissible.  It 
seems  to  me  the  inference  by  us  ought  to  be  pre- 
cisely the  other  way;  and  that  the  constructions 
given  to  these  oft  quoted  words  are  illogical  and 
untrue.  There  the  narrative  ended,  concluding,  I 
again  repeat,  by  assigning  "this  conviction"  ui)oii 
his  mind  as  his  reason  for  withdrawing  his  propn- 
silion  after  it  had  been  rejected !  But  nothing  more- 
nothing  more. 

He  does  not  expressly  ask  for  the  notice  as  aii 
instrument  of  negotiation  at  all.  That  is  left  foi 
Congress  to  sec  and  decide  upon.  He  asks  Con- 
gress f'lr  a  LAW  that  will  show  the  concurrenct 
of  the  two  Departments  of  the  Government  in  one 
conclusion,  and  that  is,  that  the  old  convention  oi 
lSi27  is  to  be  no  more,  after  a  year's  notice.  We 
see  for  ourselves — we  know  for  ourselves,  that  such 
a  concurrence  will  strengthen  his  hands,  and  there- 
fore we  will  give  him  the  authority  at  once,  and 
whilst  negotitition  is  pending.  In  that  form  ami 
to  that  extent  he  asked  it,  and  in  no  other. 

It  is  true,  Mr.  President,  that  the  Message  re- 
commending certain  measures  of  legislation — all  ul 
thein,  however,  entirely  consistent  with  further  ne- 
gotiation— contained  this  general  declaration:  "All 
'  attempts  at  compromise  bavins:  fiiiled,  it  become.-- 
'  the  duty  of  Congress  to  CONSIDER  whatmeas- 
'  ures  it  MAY  be  proper  to  adopt, "&c.,  (page  Jl.> 
And,  after  remarking  that  a  year's  nritice  must  be 
given  before  either  jiarty  can  rigiitfully  assert  oi 
exercise  "  exclusive'''  jurisdiction  over  "  anij  per- 
tion"  of  the  territory,  the  President  said:  "Tlu- 


13 


the  President  di,. 
upon  "evidence" 
that  "  no  compro- 
be  efj'icted." 
iiii^lit  orniis'htnoi 
lit  if  to  tliat  lime- 
is  fact,  as  if  he  had 
:oriimend  to  youi 
alternatives. 
;  and  they  consist 

had  made  a  proji- 

i  which  our  Gov- 
)niittinjSf  any  other 
!  negotiation,  0^' 
nate  can  judge  of 

HIS  CONVICTION," 

!  American  offer, 
!,  was  ivithdrmcn, 
ether  a  fact  or  an 
sent,  it  was  made 

liE    REJECTED  OF- 

d    now  what  bc- 
from  this  single 

le  did  not  express 
lind  in  respect  to 
rcnees  to  be  made 
are,  that,  witltoul 
iroposition  woukl 
md  upon  the  sup- 
igc  of  "  this  coii- 
•  ceasing  "on  his 
nor  intimate  ih;it 
inadmissible.  It 
ought  to  be  pre- 
iic  constructions 
are  illogical  ami 
2d,  concluding,  1 
onvietion"  upon 
■au'i?i/c  his  propn- 
■  nothing  more— 


the  notice  as  an 
That  is  left  foi 
He  asks  Con- 
the  concurrence 
vernment  in  one 
1(1  convention  oi 
r's  notice.     We 
selves,  that  sueli 
ands,  and  thcre- 
ity  at  once,  and 
I   that  form  and 
lo  other, 
he  Message  re- 
gislation— all  ol 
with  further  ne- 
eelaration:  "All 
iled,  it  become.'^ 
ER  whatmeas- 
&c.,  (page  11. ■> 
I  notice  must  be 
tfuUy  assert  oi 
over  "  am/  ;)er- 
nt  aaid:  '"'Tin- 


•  notice  it  would,  in  my  judgment,  he  proper  to 
'  give;  and  I  recommend  that  provision  be  made 

by  law  for  giving  it  accordingly,  and  terminating 
'  in  this  mamur  the  convention  of  the  6th  August, 
'  1827."  "  All  attem|)ts"  arc  very  general  words. 
I  admit  lliat;  and  I  am  not  complaining  against 
Senators  for  their  first  impressions;  but  surely  it  is 
not  illogical  nor  unreasonable  for  me  to  insist  that, 
with  the  light  of  his  past  conduct  now  before  us — 
his  acts  of  omission  and  commission, — with  the 
words  "consider"  and  "  may"  in  the  same  sen- 
tence— not  "enact" and  "is,"orthelike, — with  the 
already  ascertained  fact  that  negotiation  was  and  is 
still  pending, — with  the  knowledge  that.TAMES  K. 
POLK  is  not  an  imperious  MILITARY  CHIEF- 
TAIN, but  a  CHRISTIAN  STATESMAN,  to 
whom  politically  there  is  no  expectation  of  a  fu- 
ture at  the  close  of  his  Presidential  term, — \\  ith  the 
very  strong  fact  that,  unless  the  President  desired 
to  have  this  legislative  action  as  a  merely  moral  in- 
strument to  aid  him  in  his  executive  duties,  and 
to  pursue  the  negotiation  to  a  conclusion,  (if  such 
should  be  the  will  of  Congress,)  he  could  have  no 
use  for  it  that  is  honorable  to  him  or  to  his  Ad- 
ministration,— with  all  these  things  as  a  key  to 
tlieir  true  meaning,  it  will  not  be  said  (at  least, 
not  by  his  "friends")  that  "  aH  e^fforls  to  effect  a 
compromise^'  meant  anything  more  than  "  all  the 
efforts  made  antenor  to  the  date  o/ </ie  JV/essoge " — 
"  all  the  eflbrts  made  vp  to  that  period.^^  So  inter- 
preted, how  harmless  the  .sentence  was!  How 
unjust,  how  false  the  deductions  made  from  it! 

But  the  Message  said:  "»^/  the  end  of  the  year's 
'  notice,  wc  shall  have  reached  a  period  when 
'  the   national   rights   in   Oregon   must  either  be 

*  abandoned  or  firmly  maintained.  That  they  can- 
'  not  be  abandoned  without  a  sacrifice  of  both  na- 
'  tional  honor  and  interest  is  too  clear  to  admit  of 
'  doubt,"  (page  1.3.)  A  great  deal  has  been  attempt- 
ed to  be  made  of  this  by  the  "  true  friends  of  Ore- 
gon." Now  observe,  that  "  at  the  end  of  the  year's 
notice,"  not  before  it,  in  the  view  of  that  part  of 
the  Message,  will  that  period  be  reached.  But  it 
is  as  clear  as  a  sunbeam  that  the  period  cannot  be 
delayed  "  a  year"  unless  negotiation  is  to  be  pur- 
sued. If  the  Pr-'!sident's  mind  had  been  made  up 
to  compromise  nothing  and  to  negotiate  no  longer, 
it  was  little  less  than  a  deception  and  a  mockery  to 
tell  Congress  that  the  period  for  abandoning  or  as- 
serting our  rights  will  be  reached  a  year  after  notice 
to  Great  Pritain  !  In  such  a  case,  the  period  had 
come  alree 'y.  It  is  now  here! — NOW! — TO- 
DAY ! — an  I  he  v.-ould  have  told  us  to  prepare  for 
assertin'j:  "our  c'ta,r  and  xmqueslinnahle  title  tn  c  'I  of 
Oregon."  This  ought  to  have  been  his  language, 
if  such  had  liecn  his  meaning.  But  if,  indeed,  ne- 
gotiation was  to  be  "  ))ursued  to  a  conclusion  in  a 
spirit  of  compromise,"  the  period  for  assertinij  <ir 
abandoning  our  "  national  rights"  must  bo  delay- 
ed, and  cannot  be  readied  tmtil  the  negotiation  is 
concluded;  and  if  the  notice  is  passed,  it  may  con- 
tinue a  ijear,  but  no  longer. 

If,  therefore,  Mr.  President,  I  am  not  most  griev- 
ously mistaken  in  the  man  and  the  officer — if  I  have 
not  iicen  altogether  deceived  by  his  past  conduct 
and  i)y  tliese  "  records,"  the  President  has  not  shut 
the  door  to  a  peaceable  and  honorable  adjustment 
of  the  OREGON  controversy  by  a   COMPRO- 


MISE  ;  but,  with  noble  reliance  upon  his  own  good 
purposes  and  a  just  regard  for  Congress  as  the  con- 
stitutional interpreters  and  renreseiuatives  of  the 
public  will,  he  has  only  puuseil  to  see  whetlicr  the 
Representatives  of  the  States  and  the  People  will 
stand  by  him  or  not.  Standing  in  the  halls  of 
negotiation,  with  the  door  of  conciliation  as  open 
as  before,  he  but  turns  to  receive  from  Congress 
this  law  to  aid  his  progress.  He  invites  their  sanc- 
tion as  a  legislative  body  to  a  law  for  notice  to  ter- 
minate the  existing  convention  of  18i27.  But  lie 
stands  there  with  dignity,  mo  Icration,  and  discre- 
tion, ready  to  hear  his  conslilutional  advi.sers, 
should  they  l)id  him  to  forbear,  and  if  that  indeed 
1)0  the  will  of  the  People  constitutionally  expressed. 
That  is  his  exact  position  as  defined  by  his  past 
conduct,  and  in  no  way  contradicted  by  the  re- 
cords fairly  interpreted.  You  see  what  the  Presi- 
dent's position  is,  if  I  understand  it,  and  I  believe 
that  I  do.  I  have  no  fear — no  doubt — no  distrust 
of  it  or  of  him.  WHAT  WILL  NOW  BE 
YOURS?    What  shall  we  do? 

If  you  think  the  President  has  done  wrong,  as 
somcof  "  the  true  friends  of  Orci^on"  do,  and  that 
he  has  "  committed"  himself  to  surrender  loo  much 
for  honor,  compromise,  and  peace, — then  close  the 
halls  oi  the  Senate,  and  let  those  Senators  meet  the 
respon.?ibility  of  advising  him  to  put  an  end  to  ne- 
gotiation; aiid  until  you  have  told  him  that,  and 
he  has  obeyed  it,  do  not  give  hiin  this  law  to  au- 
thorize the  notice;  and  then  you  will  be  doing — 
VOTING — something  towards,  "All  of  Oregon  or 
none."  That  course  would  be  manly;  and  less 
than  that  will  not  be  just  to  yourselves,  nor  to  the 
President,  nor  to  the  country.  He  will  then  see 
and  understand  your  posilif)n  truly,  and  he  will 
know  how  lO  use  your  notice,  lie  will  know 
how  to  ad.'se  you  fir  a  preparation  for  conse- 
ejuenees.  He  will  understand  that  you  have  given 
it  to  him  as  a  sword,  and  not  as  an  olive  branch. 

If  you  think  he  has  proposed  loo  Utile — and  I 
fear  there  may  be  some  here  who  do,  although  no 
one  has  yet  declared  so — that  more  concession 
ought  to  lie  made  to  the  demands  of  Great  Britain 
than  the  offered  compromise  line  at  49°;  that  be- 
cause the  President  has  not,  and  probably  may 
not,  make  tiiat  concession,  it  were  lietter  to  remit 
both  countries  to  their  ancient  condition  of  a  per- 
petual feud  and  a  joint  occupancy  under  the  exi.st- 
ing  convention  of  1827;  and  that  this  can  be  safely 
done  in  full  view  of  coming  events,  then  it  is  cer- 
tain— I  admit  it  without  hesitation — that  the  notice 
ouffht  to  be  REFUSED  by  you. 

But  if  this  Senate  have  made  up  their  minds  that 
the  line  of  compromise  at  49°  is  substantially  all 
that  we  ou'zht  to  yield,  or  can  yield — and  if  they 
are  willing  to  strengthen  the  arm  of  the  Executive 
in  his  eflorts  to  settle  this  dispnic  THERE,  and  by 
a  COMPROMISE,  to  )irescrve  the  honor  and  peace 
of  our  country,  satisfied  as  we  must  be  that  now 
or  never  is  the  time  to  prevent  demagogues  of  our 
land  from  convertiiii;  this  difTerencc  into  a  dispute 
— this  neirotiation  into  a  war — they  will  then  give 
him  what  lie  asks  for — give  it  to  hiin  promptly, 
confidingly,  by  passing  some  sort  of  law  for  u 
notice,  while  he  stands  in  his  present  position, 
that  he  may  terminate  the  convention  of  1827. 

Mr.  President,  I  hope  I  have  not  decided  with- 


(> 


14 


out  a  just  cnnsijonition  of  my  responsibility,  both 
here  and  hereafter,  upon  the  position  I  slmll 
take.  But  after  nuicli  reflection,  lon;^  and  anxious 
thou^jht,  a  conscientious  effort  to  deterniiue  tiie 
point  with  justice  to  otlier  nations,  but  with  un- 
faltering faithfulness  to  the  honorable  obli;-ations 
and  lastincr  interests  of  my  own  country,  1  have 
come  to  the  conclusion,  as  a  Senator  of  the  United 
States,  that  we  cannot,  ought  not,  must  not  com- 
promise thi.s  controversy  in  any  niarmer  very  ma- 
terially ditTcrent  from  that  to  which  the  President, 
ns  I  understand  his  position  and  tliese  records, 
stands  himself  committed,  and  RIGHTLY  COM- 
MITTED;—and  I  shall  therefore  vote  to  give  him 
the  notice,  and  with  it  all  the  moral  weight  of 
an  A.MEUicw  Skvate's  settled  opinion,  that  if 
Great  Britain  will  not,  or  if  she  cannot,  consent 
to  do  us  justice,  by  yielding  her  pretensions  of 
dominion  over  the  territory  below  that  line  of 
49°  as  a  compromise,  then  WE  WILL  HAVE 
TO  FIGHT.  I  repeat  it,  WE  MUST  THEN 
FIGHT  FOR  IT.  If  my  mind  had  not  settled 
down  into  a  determination  to  concede  no  more  than 
a  compromise  at  49°,  witli  the  qualifications  al- 
ready stated,  I  wo.:ld  vote  against  the  notice;  for 
■without  that  determination  of  the  Senate  the  no- 
tice would  have  no  moral  weight  whatever,  and  be 
worthless,  worse  than  worthless,  in  the  negotiation. 
It  would  be  a  temporizing  pretence — a  species  of 
legislative  diplomacy,  an  empty  bravado,  of  which 
we  have  had  quite  enough  already,  unsuited  to  the 
dignity  of  this  body  or  the  gravity  of  the  subject, 
and  rather  enibarra-ssing  than  helpful  to  the  Ad- 
ministration in  pursuing  the  negotiation.  In  a 
word,  we  ought  to  refuse  the  notice  unless  there  is 
n  solemn  determination  to  make  the  compromise 
line  of  49°  our  FIGHTING  LINE— J/  it  must  ffe 
so. 

But,  Mr.  President,  there  are  some  other  tonics 
that  have  been  introduced  into  this  discussion, 
which  I  feel  obliged  to  notice.  We  have  been  tohl 
that  tiie  PEOPLE  have  decided  this  question, 
and  all  Democrats  are  called  to  obey  the  voice 
of  the  people  at  the  peril  of  consequences.  I 
am  a  Democrat,  and  upon  parly  questions  a  party 
man.  Of  this,  I  make  no  concealment;  and  at 
home  I  have  never  been  suspected,  I  think,  but 
once,  and  that  did  not  last  long.  But  I  am  not  a 
slave  to  dictation,  nor  a  tame  follower  of  any 
man's  lead,  especially  upon  questions  likely  to  in- 
volve my  party  in  danger,  or  my  country  m  ruin. 
I  am  Democrat  enough  not  to  shrink  from  speak- 
ing the  trvlh  boldly  to  the  people,  as  they  shall 
hear  who  hear  me  at  all.  I  nad  rather  serve  them 
than  please  them,  though  I  have  found  in  my  own 
experience  that  honest  service  is  the  best  avenue 
to  their  confidence.  I  do  not  know  nor  believe 
that  the  people  are  opi)osed  to  an  honorable 
compromise  of  this  controversy.  That  they 
might  be  made  so  by  wilful  appliances,  I  have 
no  doubt.  But  I  do  noi  shrink  from  meeting 
such  an  issue  directly — not  I.  I  should  hold 
myself  no  Democrat  if  I  did.  By  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,  the  making  ok  tiiea- 
TiEs  is  confided  to  the  PREfeDENT,  under  the 
advice  of  the  Senate.  I  talk  of  treaties;  not  ordina- 
ry laws.  In  treaty-making,  we  act  in  private,  and 
upon  information  we  cannot  disclose.   We  deny  to 


foreign  Ministers  the  right  to  discuss  the  cause  of 
their  Governments  to  our  PEOPLE.  Shoidd  one 
undertake  it,  he  would  be  driven  from  the  country, 
as  he  ought  to  be.  We  represent  STATES;  and 
Senators  are  presumed  to  be  .statesmen  of  some 
learning  and  great  judgment.  Wcgcnertdly  ratify 
a  treaty  bcfcre  the  PEOPLE  are  permitted  to  know 
anything  of  it,  or  of  the  reasons  for  its  ratification. 
If  we  were  cautious  to  observe  the  rules,  this  would 
always  be  the  case.  How  absurd,  therefore,  to 
assert  that  the  People  have  retained,  or  that  they 
wish  to  exert,  or  that  they  ran  rightfully  exercise, 
the  power  to  instruct  the  Senate  upon  the  making 
of  a  treaty.  How  execrable  and  revolutionary 
would  be  the  doctrine  that  a  President  should  seek 
to  set  aside  liis  constitutional  advisers,  and  go  be- 
fore the  people,  whether  it  were  the  honest  "  mass- 
es," or  Baltmiore  Conventions,  or  town  and  county 
meetings,  wherein  factions  are  first  formed,  and 
then  led  by  demagogues,  who  called  them  together. 
Oh,  my  country  ! — my  country!  when  that  shall 
be  our  fate,  if,  in  the  providence  of  God,  it  shall 
ever  be! 

Sir,  hear  what  the  Father  of  his  Country  said,  a 
half  a  century  ago.  Let  the  People  hear  him.  Let 
an  American'Senate  hear  him.  Lot  PRESIDENT 
POLK  hear  PRESIDENT  WASHINGTON,  and 
stand  to  his  position  !  How  precious  will  be  his 
reward ! 

"  There  had  been  a  public  meeting  in  Philadelphia 
'  for  the  purpose  of  passing  resolves  against  Jay's 
'  treaty.  After  the  business  of  the  meeting  was 
'  closed,  a  copy  of  the  treaty  was  suspended  on  a 
'  pole  and  carried  about  the  streets  by  a  company 
'  of  people,  who  at  length  stopped  in  front  of  the 
'  British  Minister's  house,  ami  there  burnt  the 
'  treaty;  and  filso  before  the  door  of  the  British 
'  Consul,  amidst  the  huzzas  and  acclamations  of 
»  the  multitude  !"  In  Boston  the  same  sort  of  thing 
was  done,  and  a  town  meeting  addressed  to  the 
President  a  protest.     This  was  his  reply  to  all: 

"  To  Ezekicl  Price,  Thomas  WaUey,  William  Board- 
man,  Ebenczer  Searer,  Thomas  Crafts,  Thomas 
Edwards,  miliam  Little,  William  Seollay,  and 
Jesse  Putnam — Selectmen  of  the  toicn  of  Boston. 

"  United  States,  July  28,  1795. 

"  Gentlemen:  In  every  act  of  my  Administra- 
'  tion,  I  have  sought  the  happiness  of  my  fellow- 
'  citizens.  My  system  for  the  attaiimient  of  this 
'  object  has  uniformly  been  to  overlook  all  pcr- 
'sonal,  local,  and  partial  considerations;  to  con- 
'  template  the  United  States  as  one  great  whole;  to 
'  confide  that  sudden  im|iressions,  when  erroneous, 
'would  yield  to  candid  reflection;  and  to  consult 
'  only  the  substantial  and  permanent  interests  of 
'  our  country. 

"  Nor  have  I  departed  from  this  line  of  conduct 
'  on  the  occasion  which  has  produced  the  rcsolu- 
'  tions  contained  in  your  letter  of  the  13th  instant. 
'  Without  a  predilection  for  my  own  judgment,  I 
'  have  weighed  with  attention  every  argument 
'  which  has  at  any  time  been  brought  i||k)  view. 
'  But  the  CONSTITUTION  is  the  guide,  which  I 
'  never  can  abandon.  It  has  assigned  to  the  PIIES- 
'  IDENT  the  power  of  rraking  treaties,  with  the 
'  advice  and  consent  of  the  SENATE.  It  was 
'  doubtless  supposed  tliat  these  two  branches  of 


!s  the  cause  of 
u  Should  one 
n  the  rountry, 
TATES;  and 
imeii  of  some 
tnerally  ratify 
litted  to  know 
ts  ratification, 
cs,  this  would 

therefore,  to 
,  or  that  they 
\illy  exercise, 
in  the  making 
revolutionary 
It  should  seek 
!,  and  go  be- 
oncst  "  mass- 
m  and  county 

formed,  and 
hem  tof!;ether. 
en  that  shall 
God,  it  shall 

Hiiitry  said,  a 
Barium.  Let 
RESIDENT 
S'GTON,and 
3  will  be  his 

Philadelphia 
igainst  Jay's 
meeting  was 
spended  on  a 
y  a  company 

front  of  the 
re  burnt  the 

the  British 
;lamations  of 
sort  of  thing 

essud  to  the 
y  to  all: 

Uiam  Board- 
's,   Thomas 
Scollny,    and 
of  Boston . 

as,  1795. 
Adniinistra- 
my  fellow- 
ncnt  of  this 
ik  all  pcr- 
s;  to  con- 
it  whole;  to 
3rroneoii3, 
to  consult 
interests  of 

of  conduct 
tl'e  rcsolu- 
Jth  instant, 
idgmcnt,  I 
argument 
Wo  view, 
e,  which  I 
le  PRES- 
with  the 
.  It  was 
inches  of 


^m^ 


U 


'  Government  would  combine,  without  passion,  and 
'  with  the  best  means  of  information,  those  facts 
'  and  principles  upon  which  the  success  of  our 
'foreign  relations  \v ill  always  depend;  that  they 
'  ought  not  to  substitute  for  their ouwi  convicHoii  the 
'  opinions  of  others,  or  to  seek  truth  through  any 
«  channel  but  that  of  a  temperate  and  well-informed 
'  investigation. 

'•  Under  this  persuasion,  I  have  resolved  on  the 
'  manner  of  executing  the  duty  before  me.  To  tlie 
'  high  responsibility  attached  to  it,  I  freely  submit; 
'  and  you,  gentlemen,  are  at  liberty  'o  make  these 

•  sentiments  known  as  the  grounds  of  my  proce- 
'  dure.  While  I  feel  the  most  lively  gratitude  for 
'  the  many  instances  of  approbation  from  mycoun- 
'  try,  I  can  no  otherwise  DESERVE  it  than  by 
'  obeying  the  dictates  of  my  COXSCIEXCE, 

"  With  due  respect,  I  am,  gentlemen,  &c., 
[Signed]  "GEORGE  WASHINGTON." 

Who  does  not  know  the  history  of  that  party- 
denunciation  and  violence  which  disturbed  this 
nation  even  under  Washington's  Administration, 
when  GENET  appealed  to  the  PEOPLE  of  the 
States  in  behalf  of  France  and  against  Great  Brit- 
ain, and  how  PRESIDENT  WASHINGTON'S 
celebrated  Proclamation  of  Neutrality  saved  the 
PEACE  OF  AMERICA.  In  taking  leave  of  the 
duties  and  cares  of  public  station,  hear  what 
Washington  said  of  it  to  the  people: 

"After  deliberate  Gxamination,  with  the  aid  of 
'  the  best  lights  I  co  ild  obtain,  I  was  well  satisfied 
'  that  our  country,  •  nder  all  the  circumstances  of 
'  the  case,  had  a  right  to  take,  and  was  bound  in 
'  duty  and  interest  to  take,  a  NEUTPuVL  position. 

•  Having  taken  it,  I  determined,  as  fur  as  should 
'  depend  upon  me,  to  maintain  it  with  moderation, 
'  perseverance,  and  fmnntss.*^ 

And,  oh,  how  like  a  patriot  and  father,  did  he, 
still  yearning  over  his  country,  warn  us  by  his 
FAREWELL  ADDRESS  to  beware  of  all  se^" 
constituted  combinations  to  overawe  and  control 
this  Senate  !  It  is  Washington  who  speaks  to  us 
from  the  grave;  let  Senators  listen! 

"  The  basis  of  our  political  systems  is  the  right 
'  of  the  people  to  make  and  to  alter  their  constitu- 
'  tions  of  Govenmient.  But  the  constitution  which 
'  at  any  time  exists,  till  changed  by  an  explicit  and 
'  authentic  act  of  the  whole  people,  is  sacredly  ob- 
« ligatory  upon  all.     The  very  idea  of  the  power 

•  and  the  right  of  the  people  to  establish  govern- 
'  ment  presupposes  the  duty  of  every  individual  to 
'  obey  the  established  government. 

"All  obstructions  to  the  execution  of  the  laws, 

•  all  combinations  and  associations,  under  what- 
'  ever  plausible  character,  with  the  real  design  to 
'  direct,  control,  counteract,  or  awe  the  regular  delib- 
'  era/ton  and  action  of  the  constituted  authori- 
'  ties,  are  destructive  of  this  fundamental  princi- 
'  pie,  and  of  fatal  tendency.  They  serve  to  organ- 
'  ize  faction,  to  give  it  an  artificial  and  extraordi- 
'  nary  force,  to  jiut  in  the  place  of  the  delegated  will 
'  of  the  nation  the  will  of  a  party — often  a  small 
'  but  artful  and  enterprising  minority  of  the  com- 
'  munity — and,  according  to  the  alternate  triumphs 
'ofdiflerent  parties,  to  make  the  public  adminis- 
'  trution  the  mirror  of  the  ill-concerted  and  incon  ■ 
•gruous  projects  of  faction,  rather  tlicin  the  organ 


cormion  counsels,  and  modified  by  mutual  in- 


£ 


lann,  digested  by 


'  of  consI.''tciit  and  wholesome 
'  cormK 
'  tc.csls 
•'  However  combinations  or  associations  of  the 

*  above  description  may  now  and  then  answer 
'  popular  ends,  they  arc  likely,  in  the  course  of 

*  time  and  things,  to  become  potent  engines,  by 

*  which  cunning,  ambitious,  and  imprinripled  men 
'  tcill  be  enabled  to  subvert  the  power  of  the  PEOPLE, 
'  and  to  usurp  for  THEMSELVES  the  reins  of 
'  Government,  destroying  afterwards  the  very  cn- 
'  gines  which  have  lifted  them  to  unjust  domin- 
'  ion." — Farewell  Mdress. 

What  words  of  wisdom  and  of  truth  are  these  ! 
They  are  the  principles  of  liberty,  wdl-rcgulutcd 
liberty;  of  freedom,  constitutional  freedom. 

Methinks  I  see  the  coming  storm.  The  press  may 
be  already  charged;  but  no  matter.  This  is  my 
country's  question,  not  a  mere  party  strife.  These 
are  the  sentiments  my  head  and  my  heart  approve, 
and  I  will  not  withhold  them.  The  President  may 
peril  his  Administration — some  of  you  believe  he 
will — if  he  or  his  friends  should  dare  to  think  like 
WASHINGTON— to  act  like  WASHINGTON. 
But  he  will  violate  his  duty  and  peril  his  country 
if  he  does  not.  So  did  WASHINGTON  peril 
his  Administration ;  but,  the  people,  the  DE- 
MOCRACY, came  to  the  rescue,  and  all  was  well. 
A  much  humbler  victim  (like  him  who  addresses 
you)  must  expect  to  be  marked  as  a  disturber  of  our 
party  harmony.  But  shall  I  preach  harmony  when 
there  is  no  concord,  upon  such  questions  as  these .' 
It  would  be  political  hypocrisy.  I  read  to  an  Amer- 
ican Senate  the  lessons  which  Washington  taught, 
and  upon  which  Washington  ACTED;  and  if 
"that  be  treason,  make  the  most  of  it." 

But,  before  you  strike,  the  PEOPLE  shall  hear. 
Are  not  these  the  true  princijiles  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, upon  which  every  Administration  of  this  Gov- 
ernment, from  Washington  down — Federal  and 
DEMOCRATIC— have  ACTED,— have  ACT- 
ED, I  say — in  the  management  of  our  foreign  affairs  ? 
I  challenge  a  refutation  by  their  acts — not  mere 
words.  It  is  southern  Democracy,  Mr.  President, 
beyond  all  dispute.  It  is  that  sort  which  I  have 
always  professed;  not  like  a  potato,  that  grows 
under  ground  at  the  root;  but  which  blooms  and 
bears  its  fruit  in  the  open  air  of  heaven,  and  then 
rijiens  and  is  fit  for  use. 

I  say  nothing  about  Legislative  Inltructions: 
not  a  word.  I  have  not  time  to  speak  upon  that 
point,  so  as  to  express  myself  in  a  manner  to  avoid 
misrepresentations;  and  it  is  not  necessary  1  should 
raise  that  question  before  I  shall  be  instructed.  Suf- 
fice it  to  say,  that  North  Carolina  has  not  in- 
structed her  Senators.  1  esteem  it  a  jewel  in  the 
crown  of  my  State,  that  North  Carolina  never  did, 
in  any  party  mutations  or  political  excitements,  in- 
struct her  Senators  upon  a  treaty  or  treaty- 
making,  so  far  as  I  know.  I  presume  it  will  not  so 
much  as  be  pretended  that  I  ought  to  pay  obedi- 
ence to  the  mandates  of  anyftthcr  State. 

[At  this  stage  of  his  remarks,  Mr.  ITaywood 
gave  an  amusing  account  of  the  game  of  politics 
to  be  played  with  this  Oregon  question  in  Presi- 
dent-making. The  substance  was,  that  the  great 
Western  Democratic  statesman,  (Mr.  Bi:xton,) — [lie 
had  seen  ever  since  la^t  summei',] — was  to  be  drum- 


(I 


1 


16 


med  out  of  the  party,  with  the  false  label  upon  his 
back,  of  '« traitor  to  Oree;on!"  The  great  Souther7t. 
Dcmocralic  statesman,  [Mr.  Calhoun,]  was  to  be 
di-))riis.sc(l,  falsely  kiliclled  with  the  cry  of*  Punic 
faith  to  Oregon."  The  Senator  from  Arkansas, 
[Mr.  Sevier,]  another  eloquent  and  curly  friend 
of  Oregon,  would  fijid  himself  marched  out  for  his 
want  of  foresight — because,  in  the  last  Congress, 
he  made  a  speech  for  the  notice,  but  instead  of 
going  for  "  all  or  none,"  '*  fight  or  no  fight,"  he 
liad  got  for  his  reward  a  vulgar  patch  to  his  back, 
of  ^'notice  for  the  sake  of  negotiation.'^  The 
Secretary  of  State,  [Mr.  Buchatian,]  and  all  the 
Cabinet,  would  prooably  be  dismissed,  in  a  body, 
from  the  party,  branded  as  "  British  compromisers." 
And  as  that  left  the  Governor  of  A'ev)  York  still  in 
the  party,  Mr.  H.  asked,  "what  of  him.'  How 
is  he  to  be  got  rid  of.'"  "Oh,  that  will  be  a 
small  job,  provided  the  indignation  against  the 
Washington  treaty  can  be  kept  up  to  a  white 
heat  long  enough,  as  he  voted  for  its  ratification." 

{Then  turning  to  Mr.  Webster] — "  The  Senator 
rom  Massachusetts  may  see  a  more  amiable  ex- 
cuse for  certain  stale  strictures  upon  the  "  Wash- 
ington treatii'"  than  malice  towards  the  negotiator. 
GOVERNOR  WRIGHT,  as  a  Senator,  voted  for 
its  ratification;  and  he  happens  not  to  be  here  to 
vote  upon  Oi'egon.  So  "  Ratification  of  the  Jlshbur- 
ton  treaty,"  will  be  his  badge  upon  his  dismissal. 
During  this  part  of  t' e  speech  there  was  much 
laughter,  and  the  picture,  although  drawn  serious- 
ly, was  exhibited  in  good  humor.  He  then  pro- 
ceeded as  follows:] 

Why,  in  the  name  of  all  that  is  safe  to  my  party, 
where  do  the  Democrats  expect  to  find  a  Presiden- 
tial candidate  ?  Who  will  be  our  President  after 
we  have  expelled  all  our  biggest  men }  Sir,  I  am 
Bure  T  do  not  know. 

[Mr.  Hannegav  remarked;  "Take  him  from 
amongst  the  people,  where  we  got  one  before."] 

Oh !  Ay,  tnen  he  IS  to  be  taken  from  among  the 
people,  is  he — without  resorting  to  such  statesmen 
as  those  I  have  named?  We  shall  see,  however, 
whether  the  people  agree  to  have  this  game  played 
after  a  three  year's  notice. 

There  is  a  mistake,  however,  Sir.  President,  in 
what  the  Senator  from  Indiana  exclaimed,  at  his 
first  sight  of  my  imperfect  picture.  In  my  State, 
let  me  tell  that  Senator,  when  Democrats  talk  of 
"  the  people,  "we  mean  "  the  masses" — the  "bone 
and  smew"  of  the  land,  as  distinguished  firom  the 
statesmen,  lawyers,  politicians,  and  such  like.  In 
that  sense,  I  deny  that  President  Polk  was  got 
for  a  candidate  from  among  "  the  people."  He 
has  been  a  jwUtician  all  his  life,  and  we  knew  it 
when  he  was  nominated.  Thank  God  for  it ! — 
he  has  now  proved  himself  to  have  been  more — 
one  of  the  statesmen  of  this  great  country.  And 
if  he  will  only  stand  up  by  the  side  of  Wash- 
ington, as  he  has  done,  and  I  hope  he  will  do,  lie 
will  be  entitled  to  our  lasting  admiration.  That 
sort  of  flattery  to  the  people  would  not  take  at  all 
with  "  the  pei)j)le"  in  my  [)art  of  the  world,  and  I 
should  be  sorry  to  think  it  would  tickle  the  people 
very  much  anywhere.  A  man  is  no  worse,  as  a 
man,  because  he  dues  not  possess  the  learning  and 
political  experience  which  are  requisite  to  fit  him 
for  tlie  s'a'ion  of  Chief  M.'gistrate  of  the  United 


Slates.  Nobody  pretends  to  that.  But  it  is  a 
great  evil  when  everybody  thinks  ho  is  fit  to  be  the 
President;  and  if  my  friend  from  Indiana  should 
stand  i.p  before  a  crowd  of  honest  Democrats  in 
my  State  and  talk  to  "the  people,"  the  "real  peo- 
ple," the  "masses,"  there — tlie  men  who  drive 
their  own  ploughs,  miiko  their  own  carts,  »fcc.,  and 
quietly  pursue  their  occupation  at  home — about 
NOMINATING  ONE  OF  THEM  FOR  PRES- 
IDENT,  they  would  do  what  /  will  not — laugh  in 
his  face,  and  tell  him  that  he  might  as  tcell  talk  of  get- 
ting a  blacksmith  to  mend  icatches. 

But  let  me  ask  the  attention  of  Senators  wliilst 
I  give  to  the  Baltimore  resolution  a  more  par- 
tic!lilar  notice.  It  has  been  often  referred  to  in 
the  Senate,  and  no  one  hat:  answered.  I  be- 
lieve the  Senator  from  Illinois  [Mr.  Breese]  is 
entitled  to  the  distinction  of  liaving  first  read  it 
in  the  Senate.  He  did  not  liave  the  Secretary 
to  read  it,  but  read  it  himself:  Next  year  for 
the  next  step !  The  Senate,  having  no  wish  to 
misrepresent  me,  need  not  be  asked  to  remember 
that  I  shall  have  nothing  to  say  against  the  conven- 
tion or  its  members.  The  resolution  which  has  been 
gravely  read,  and  often  relied  upon  as  deserving 
great  weight  and  consideration  in  our  deliberations, 
IS  my  subject;  not  the  convention.  The  resolution 
on  Oregon  is  simply  this:  The  declaration  of  opin- 
ions by  a  party  convention  recommending  those 
opinions  to  the  people  which  v/fre  unanimously 
adopted  by  the  convention.  That  is  its  precise 
character.     They  are  before  me: 

"  Resolved,  That  our  title  to  the  whole  of  Oregon 
'  is  clear  and  unquestionable;  that  no  poition  of 
'  the  same  ought  to  be  ceded  to  England  or  any 
'  other  Power;  and  that  the  re-occupation  of  Ore- 
'  gon,  and  the  re-annexation  of  Texas,  at  the  ear- 
'  licst  practicable  period,  are  great  American  meas- 
'  ures,  which  this  convention  recommends  to  the 
'  cordial  support  of  the  Democratic  party  of  this 
'Union." 

It  is  remarkable  how  this  resolution  has  acquired 
so  much  importance  now,  when  it  was  not  even 
thought  worthy  of  being  communicated  to  Mr. 
Polk  at  that  time  by  its  authors.  I  liave  before 
me,  in  Niles's  Register,  the  letter  informing  him  of 
his  nomination,  and  expecting  to  elect  kirn;  and  his 
reply  accepts  the  nomination,  hoping  they  may. 
That  is  about  the  whole  of  it.  In  good  taste,  and 
enough  said.  If  any  Senator  wishes  it,  I  will  read 
the  letters.  Here  they  are.  But  not  a  word  about 
Oregon — not  a  syllable.  No  pledges  made,  and 
none  required.  In  truth,  we  all  know  that  the 
Baltimore  Convention  was  not  called  to  instructor 
to  express  opinions  for  the  party,  but  simply  to 
choose  a  DEMOCRATIC  CANDIDATE.  So 
you  come  round  again  to  Mr.  Polk's  opinio!) 
vcluntarily  expressed  before  he  was  a  candiflatc 
for  President,  and  which  he  has  not  changed  to 
this  day.     Of  that  I  have  already  spoken. 

Then  whom  does  this  resolution  bind?  Wliy 
brought  into  this  Senate?  But  before  you  answtr 
me,  recollect  there  were  two  Baltimore  conventions, 
[Some  person  said — "  three."]  I  know,  but  I  don't 
count  the  Tyler  Convention.  [A  good  deal  of 
laughter  took  place  at  this  remark,  and  ^Ir.  11. 
said,  "  I  mean  no  sneer — noollonce  to  any  one.'"] 
The  rr/ijg  Senators,  I  suppose  it  will  be  admitlcd, 


at.  But  it  is  a 
lio  Ih  fit  to  be  thf 
I  Indiana  sliould 
st  Democrats  in 
,"  the  "real  pen- 
men wlio  drive 
n  carts,  &c.,  and 
at  home — about 

:m  for  pres. 

'ill  not — laugh  in 
ts  icell  talk  of  get- 

'  Senators  whilst 
ion  a  more  par- 
n  referred  to  in 
nswered.  1  be- 
Mr.  Breese]  is 
ving  first  read  it 
i^c  the  Secretary 

Next  year  for 
■ing  no  wish  to 
ked  to  remember 
;aiiist  the  conven- 
I  which  has  been 
on  as  deserving 
»ur  deliberations, 

The  resolution 
claration  of  opin- 
mmending  those 
ere  unanimously 
lat  is'  its  precise 

whole  of  Oregon 
at  no  poition  of 
England  or  any 
cupation  of  Ore- 
exas,  at  the  ear- 
American  meas- 
immends  to  the 
ic  party  of  this 

ion  has  acquired 
't  was  not  even 
inicated  to  Mr. 

I  have  before 

nforniing  liim  of 

ct  liim;  and  his 

^ping  they   may. 

good  taste,  and 

es  it,  I  will  read 

ot  a  word  about 

Igcs  made,  and 

know  that  the 

Rd  to  instruct  or 

but  simply  to 
DID  ATE.  S(. 
Polk's  opinion 
vas  a  candidate 
not  changed  to 
pokcn. 

n  bind?  Why 
bre  you  answer 
»re  (umventions, 
low,  but  I  don't 
good  deal  of 
rk,  and  I\Ir.  H. 
e  to  any  one.'"] 
Ijc  :ul milled, 


17 


arc  not  bound  by  the  Dcmocrallc  Convention  res- 
ohiticin.  [Mr.  DicKixr.os",  of  New  York,  and 
others  said,  "  Of  course  not."]  Then  that  is  sLttled. 
TIow  is  it  with  a  Democratic  Senator,  whose  State 
voted  for  Mr.  Clay,  and  repudiated  the  Democratic 
Convention  ?  That  is  my  case.  My  Stale  adopted 
the  Constitution  many  years  ago;  and  besides  that, 
they  refused  to  vote  for  Mr.  Polk,  or  to  approve  this 
resolution  in  1844.  What  is  it  ex[)ectcd  of  ME 
to  do?  To  obey  the  Constitution,  and  fo"ow  the 
people  of  my  Stale;  or  this  resolution  of  a  con- 
vention sent  to  T'altimore  to  NOMINATE  A 
CANDIDATE  FOR  PRESIDENT,  but  not  to 
make  CREEDS  for  the  party?  [Somo  one  re- 
marked, "  Of  course  you  are  not  bound  as  a  Se.v- 
ATon ."]  Very  well ;  it  is  as  a  Senator  I  talk  here, 
as  a  Senator  I  vote  here,  and  as  n  Scnatoi'  I  heard 
these  resolutions  read  here;  and  yet  as  a  Senator 
I  am  not  bound  to  liecd  thein.  That  is  a  strange 
result  after  all  wc  have  heard  of  this  matter.  And 
in  behalf  of  my  Democratic  neighbors,  the  Sen- 
ators from  South  Carolina,  I  would  res.iectfully 
ir  uire  whether  they  were  hound,  and  now  far? 
— since  South  Carolina  would  not  join  the  conven- 
tion, and  had  no  delegates  in  it.  [Several  voices: 
*'  Oh,  yes;  her  delegates  came  in  after."]  I  under- 
stand It:  South  Carolina  delegates  came  into  the 
nomination.  However,  I  suspect  that  much  of  all 
this,  intended  or  not  intended,  \/ill  be  used  to  aid 
the  cry  of  "Punic  faith"— "  Punic  faith,"  of 
which  1  shall  speak  hereafter. 

But  in  the  next  place,  Mr.  President,  I  presume 
to  tell  my  Democratic  associates  M'ho  thrust  this 
new  CREED  upon  me  as  a  test  of  orthodoxy  in 
the  party,  that  they  seem  to  me  not  to  understand 
it  themselves,  and  it  were  as  well  to  look  to  that 
before  any  cry  of  treason  shall  be  got  u]'  cither 
against  the  President,  or  against  the  Siiiute,  or 
against  an  humble  individual  like  myself.  I  charge 
the  Senator  from  Illinois,  and  all  other  Senators  who 
subscribe  this  as  a  creed,  and  yet  go  for  54°  40', 
with  insisting  upon  more  than  the  Baltimore  Con- 
vention have  recommended  the  party  to  believe  and 
do;  and  here  is  my  proof.  It  truly  says  that  Texas 
and  Oregon  are  "  great  ^Imcrican  questions  !  You 
insist  that  Oregon  is  a  "  Ife.sYcrji"  question:  and 
sometimes  it  is  treated  by  you  as  a  ^'  partij"  r[ues- 
tion;  and  I  am  afraid  that,  by  bringing  it  here, 
you  will  soon  induce  otlicr  persons  (without  Sen- 
ators intending  it)  to  cor. vert  it  into  a  very  danger- 
ous presidential — sectional — anti-democratic,  anti- 
Administration  question,  and  teach  others  to  PRO- 
SCRIBE those  who  cannot  lay  aside  our  original 
faith  as  we  do  our  clothes;  audi,  therefore,  still  be- 
lieve that  this  is  an  "v'Jmericna"  question,  and  that, 
like  Texas,  the  "twin-sister  to  Oregon,"  the  bound- 
aries of  Oregon  ought  to  be  left  to  a  settlement  by 
negotiation  through  the  President  and  Senate  of 
the  United  States — the  only  constitutional  organs 
for  treating  with  foreign  Governments. 

But  more  than  that,''Mr.  President:  this  CREED 
is  in  favor  of  the  "  RE-OCCUPATION  OF  ORE- 
GON." And  that  is  what  it  recommended  to  our 
party.  Ah!  "re-occupation" — that's  the  word; 
not  occupaiiou,  but  re- occupation.  Now,  we  cannot 
"re-occupy"  what  wc  never  "occupied"  before. 
We  never  occupied  the  Oregon  that  lies  north  of 
the  compromise  line  of  49°  before,  but  the  Oregon 


on  this  side  of  tliat  line  we  have  licretofore  occu- 
j)ie(l.  Therefore  we  cannot  re-occupy  north  of  49°, 
tnit  we  can  re-occupy  all  south  of  that  line  !  And 
that  is  exactly  what  the  President  has  been  endeav- 
oring to  do,  and  exactly  what  I  am  in  favor  of  do- 
ing—'\//g/i<  or  no  fight. '^  Sn-,if  a  Democrat  thus 
comes  fully  up  to  thiscrecd  by  his  action,  what  gave 
Senators  here  the  ])rivilege  to  denounce  him  as 
untrue  to  the  Democratic  faith  ?  This  construction 
of  the  CREED  is  not  hypercritical.  What  is  "OR- 
EGON?" The  country  on  the  Columbia  river  and 
south  of  it — all  lying  below  the  line  of  49° — used 
to  be  Oregon.  The  old  historians,  maps,  and  ge- 
ographers all  had  it  so.  It  is  a  thing  of  modern 
origin  to  call  any  part  of  the  territory  north  of  49° 
"Oregon."  There  is,  then,  an  old  Oregon  and  a 
modern  Oregon.  The  old  Oregon  was  once  occu- 
pied by  us.  Outside  of  that  wc  have  never  occu- 
pied any  portion  of  the  modern  Oregon;  and  there- 
fore, if  this  CREED  had  gone  for  an  occupation  of 
Oregon,  it  might  well  be  construed  "all  of  Oregon," 
old  and  neu\  But  as  it  only  went  for  a  "  re-occu- 
nation,"it  is  as  clear  as  day  that  the  creed  must 
be  interpreted  to  mean  the  old  Oregon  up  to  49°; 
that  same  Oregon  which  we  once  occujtied;  that 
same  Oregon  which  lies  south  of  49°;  that  same 
Oregon  which  the  DEMOCRATS  all  go  for  still;— 
only  some  of  us  are  not  anxious  to  fight  for  any 
MORE !  If  we  stand  to  the  faith,  and  keep  the  bond 
as  it  was  written  for  us,  will  not  that  suffice?  I 
think,  Mr.  President,  I  liave  disposed  of  the  Balti- 
more resolution  generally  and  specially. 

With  una(re(  ted  pain  did  I  hear  a  charge  of 
"  PUNIC  FAITH"  brought  and  repeated  against 
the  South,  in  this  Senate,  with  respect  to  this  Ore- 
gon notice,  &c.,and  in  a  way  that  challenged  a  re- 
ply to  it. 

Personally  I  care  nothing  about  it,  as  I  voted  for 
the  Oregon  bill  last  session;  and  some  Senators 
know  that  my  reason  for  voting  against  notice  the 
session  before  was,  that  its  form  appeared  to  me  to 
violate  the  Constitution.  [Mr.  H.  here  explained 
at  length  his  objections  to  the  form  of  that  notice. 
He  also  excused  himself  for  vofing  to  take  up  the 
Oregon  bill  last  session,  by  stating  that  if  he  had 
known  at  the  time  (as  he  does  now)  how  the  ne- 
gotiation then  stood,  he  would  not  have  voted  for  so 
much  of  that  bill  as  proposed  to  take  jurisdiction. 
But  the  Senate  did  not  know  the  facts  at  that  time, 
and  they  had  not  been  told  to  him.  He  did  not 
wonder  at  the  offence  that  was  taken  by  the  Brit- 
ish Parliament,  who,  no  doubt,  believed  that  we 
knew  it  all,  at  the  time  the  bill  passed  the  other 
House.]  But  I  do  not  feel  myself  at  liberty  to 
let  such  an  accusation  grow  into  a  proverb  against 
the  SoiTii.  The  South  is  my  Home;  and  such 
accusations  have  a  baleful  influence  in  kindling 
and  preserving  sectional  feelings:  I  shall,  there- 
fore, expose  us  injustice,  and  then  forbear.  I 
shall  do  that  by  the  Journeds  oSthe  Senate  now  be- 
fore mc.  I  will  read  from  theljooks,  if  any  of  my 
statements  should  be  questioned.  This  charge  of 
"Punic  faith,"  the  Senate  will  remember,  was  in- 
troduced here  some  days  ago,  when  the  honorable 
Senator  from  Georgia,  [Mri'CoLQuiTT,]  had  spoken 
of  the  course  of  the  Senator  from  Indiana  [Mr. 
Hannegan]  upon  the  Ttxaa  question.  The  hon- 
orable Senator  from  Indiana  said,  in  substance,  as 


18 


MK# 


V^JI 


Ti 


,4 


I  untliTstooil  him — (I  have  not  his  wonLs  before 
mo) — tiiiit  ho  Imd  for  sonin  time  desired  a  fit  occa- 
sion to  exjilain  liis  voto  against  Texas,  and  now  he 
had  it;  and  that  it  was  siinjdy  Ijecausc  lie  iuid 
fort  seen  "Punic  faith — Punic  failli."  Tiien,  or 
at  sunic;  other  time,  he  more  than  intimated  tliat  lie 
had  found  that  Punic  faith  in  tiie  South.  Other 
Senators  were  formally  called  to  tlie  floor  to  vindi- 
cate that  Senator,  by  their  statements,  showiiijsj 
that  he  really  was  suspicious  of  the  South,  of  which 
I  do  not  complain.  Altogether  the  complexion 
given  to  this  matter  before  the  public  eye  was,  that 
this  "  Pmiio  faith"  had  Ijcen  practised  by  one  or 
more  Southern  Senators  of  the  Democratic  party  ! 
and  the  sai^acity  of  the  honorable  Senator,  it  seems, 
enabled  him  to  see  it  beforehand.  In  that  way  he 
explained  his  vote  against  Texas. 

Now,  Mr.  President,  there  is  a  grave  mistake  in 
all  this  thing.  In  the  first  place,  the  Senator's 
memory  deceived  him  as  to  the  fact  of  liis  men 
vote.  He  did  not  role  against  Texas  !  Upon  the  treaty 
he  did  not  vole  at  all !  For  the  Texas  Resolutions, 
the  next  session,  he  voted  ay  !  The  Journals  are 
before  me,  and  these  are  facts.  If  contradicted,  I 
will  read  the  votes. 

[Mr.  ILvvNEGAN  If  marked:  "I  v/as  present, 
and  did  not  vote  on  the  treaty."] 

No  doubt  of  it;  but  present  or  absent  was  all 
tlic  same.  No  single  vote  was  v/orth  having  upon 
the  treaty,  for  cviirybody  knew  in  the  Senate,  al- 
most from  the  beginning,  that  the  treaty  could  not 
Cass.  The  Senator  will  admit  that.  Then  wliat 
asis  for  his  charge  is  left? 

In  the  second  place,  Mr.  President,  the  resolu- 
tion for  notice,  &c..,  on  Oregon  was  rejected  at  that 
session — l)cfore  the  Baltimore  Convention  met !  It 
was  rejected  by  ayes  and  noes  on  the  21st  of  March ! 
The  convention  met  on  27th  May  !  Now,  what 
docs  the  Senator  think  of  his  charge  of  "  Punic 
fahh,  Punic  faith?" 

Ill  the  third  place,  every  Democratic  Senator 
save  ttvo — the  two  from  South  Carolina,  [Messrs. 
HijGER  and  McDuffik] — voted  for  the  Oregon 
bill  upon  the  test  vote  in  the  Senate  at  the  session 
when  Texas  was  passed  through  by  the  Senator's 
vote.  The  Senator  from  Indiana  at  that  session 
held  Texas  in  his  hand — his  single  hand  !  Without 
his  vote  it  could  not  have  passed  !  Oregon  lacked 
one  vote  to  save  it,  Texas  but  one  vote  to  kill  it. 
"What  claim  will  lie  set  up  for  sagacity,  and  upon 
what  grounds  can  he  make  this  charge  against  the 
South,  when  he  had  only  to  have  made  the  passage 
of  the  Oregon  bill  a  sine  qua  non  to  his  vote  for 
Texas,  and  the  thing  would  have  been  done, — 
both  would  have  passed,  or  neither.  The  Oregon 
bill  must  have  passed — always  provided,  he  could 
have  ^ot  a  Southeuv  Senator  to  make  such  a 
bargain  with  him  !  He  had  but  two  Senators  to 
trade  witli,  for  all  the  rest  of  us  voted  for  the  Ore- 
gon bill  without  a  |rice.  That  he  did  not  drive  a 
bargain  for  Oregon  is  no  concern  of  mine. 

[Mr.  Haywood  here  spoke  of  Mr.  Huger  as 
an  absent  friend,  whom  he  loved  too  well  not  to 
vindicate  iigainst  unjust  aspersions,  and  was  about 
to  proceed;  when 

Mr.  Hannegav  at  once  interrupted  liim  by  ex- 

Kressing  the  higiiest  admiration  and  respect  for 
Ir.  Huger,  and  disavowed  all  sort  of  intention  to 


impute  to  him  an  act,  or  even  n  tliought  of  the 
slightest  dishonor  as  a  man  or  a  Senator.] 

Mr.  Haywood  continued.  That  is  enougli, 
Mr.  President.  The  other  honorable  Senator 
from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  McDukfie]  is  here, 
and  very  able  to  vindicate  himself,  if  he  thinks  ii 
is  rctiuired.  But  I  turn  to  higher  topics.  This  is 
not  o  pleasant  one. 

Mr.  President,  in  coming  to  tlio  conclusions  I 
have,  and  which  have  been  expresst,d  to  the  Senate 
without  evasion  or  disguise,  atid  in  taking  my 
stand,  as  I  believe,  alongside  of  the  Executive 
department  of  the  Government,  I  took  no  counsel 
of  Great  Britain's  strength  to  make  me  recede 
from  the  cxtremest  claim  of  my  own  country. 
Were  it  MEXICO,  or  any  still  weaker  and  more 
distracted  Government,  if  I  know  my  own  heart, 
I  would  demand  no  more  from  it  tnan  I  would 
insist  ui)on  against  Great  Britain, — our  rights,  our 
honoraule  rights,  peaceably  and  in  love.  From 
neither,  and  fi-om  no  other  Government  in  the 
world,  would  I  take  what  was  not  honorable  for 
my  own  to  demand;  nor  go  to  war  with  any  nation 
for  either  a  profitable  or  an  unprofitable  wrong.  I 
must  be  pardoned,  therefore,  for  giving  utterance 
to  the  sentiment,  that  an  accusation  of  this  kind 
against  our  own  Government  was  neither  just  nor 
politic  nor  patriotic.  The  rest  of  the  world  will 
DC  easy  to  persuade,  with  American  Senators  to 
instruct  them,  that  our  country  is  mean  enough  to 
oppress  the  weak,  and  too  cowardly  to  assert  our 
rignts  against  the  strong.  Great  Britain  will  hard- 
ly find  in  that  (if  she  believed  it)  a  motive  for  sur- 
rendering "all  of  Oregon"  without  a  fight,  even  if 
it  should  become  necessary  for  her  to  light  us  sin- 
gle-handed for  it. 

So,  before  God  and  the  Senate,  I  do  abjure  and 
reprobate  the  sentiment  of  hatred  to  any  nation 
as  a  motive  for  going  back  no  further  than  the 
ofl^ered  compromise. 

The  venerated  man  whose  image  hangs  con- 
stantly before  us,  and  whose  name  should  ever  be 
his  eulogy  in  an  American  Senate — GEORGE 
WASHINGTON— in  his  last  words  to  the  coun- 
try, taught  us  "that  the  nation  which  indulges  to- 
uiards  another  habitual  hatred  is  in  some  degree  a 
slave;"  and  the  Declaration  of  American  Inde- 
pendence has  sanctified  it  as  a  political  maxim  of 
this  republic,  "  to  hold  Great  Britain,  as  tee  hold  the 
rest  of  mankind,  enemies  [only]  in  war,  but  in 
peace  friends."  There  is  nothing  that  has  tempted 
me  to  forget,  and  nothing  shall  drive  me  to  violate, 
the  counsel  of  my  country's  father,  nor  this  funda- 
mental maxim  of  free  American  institutions.  Nei- 
ther will  I  teach  the  people  to  do  it.  Good  men 
could  not  applaud  the  Senate  for  it.  Heaven 
would  not  excuse  its  practical  application,  nor  fail, 
perhaps,  to  visit  tlie  consequences  upon  the  nation 
Itself. 

Without  going  into  our  title  to  the  Territory, 
(which,  if  the  Senate  choose,  can  be  done  here- 
after and  whenever  the  bill  for  taking  jurisdiction 
over  Oregon,  or  "  any  portion  of  ii,'  comes  up 
for  consideration,)  I  will  tell  you,  in  very  few 
words,  the  ground  of  right  upon  wliicli  (if  there 
were  no  other)  I  would  put  my  vindication.  I  be- 
lieve it  is  the  political  RIGHT  of  my  country  to 
stretch  itself  witliout  any  interruption  by  foreign 


Go\| 
fronT 
oura 

W»!  II 

our 

onl) 

dcnj 

fcroj 

Indc 

righl 

witlJ 

a  Ri4 

It  isl 

GreJ 

longl 

COUlJ 

with! 

our 

then! 

ding] 

and 

in  hi^ 

that '. 

law  I 

ccssi 

cons 

conv 


19 


tliought  of  the 
ciiaior,] 

Imt  is  pnongh, 
lorahlc  Senator 
ukfie]  is  hero, 

if  lie  thinks  ii 
topics.    This  is 

u!  condusions  I 
i<,d  to  the  Senate 
in  taking  my 
the  Executive 
took  no  counsel 
lake  me  recede 
'  own  country, 
eaker  and  more 
my  own  heart, 
t  tiian  I  would 
-our  rights,  our 
n  love.  From 
ernment  in  the 
t  honorable  for 
with  any  nation 
table  wrong.  I 
giving  utterance 
)n  of  tliis  kind 
neither  just  nor 
"  the  world  will 
:an  Senators  to 
nean  enough  to 
ly  to  assert  our 
ritain  will  hard- 
motive  for  sur- 
a  fight,  even  if 
to  light  us  sin- 

[  do  abjure  and 

1  to  any  nation 
rther  than  the 

l2^e  hangs  con- 
should  ever  be 
te— GEORGE 
s  to  the  coun- 
ich  indulges  to- 
ri some  degree  a 
nierican  Inde- 
ical  maxim  of 
,  as  we  hold  the 

WAR,  but  in 
at  has  tempted 
me  to  violate, 
or  this  funda- 
tutions.  Nei- 
.     Good  men 

it.  Heaven 
ition,  nor  fail, 
lon  the  nation 

le  Territory, 
done  here- 

j  jurisdiction 
,'  comes  up 
in  very  few 
lich  (if  there 

nation.  Ibe- 
y  country  to 
n  by  foreign 


Oovcrnnicnt.s  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific — 
from  .sea  to  .sea  oa  ihi.s  continent — according  an  we 
our.sclve3  siiall  judge  it  cx|pi(lirnt  or  not.  That 
weacqniii'd  that  RIGHT  upcn  tlii.s  continent  when 
our  IjN DEPENDENCE  was  established,  subject 
only  to  the  proviso,  that  we  must  not  do  it  so  as  to 
deny  the  like  privilege  to  our  neighbors,  nor  inter- 
fere with  settlements  permanently  made  before  our 
Independence  was  established,  nor  with  .similar 
rights  belonging  to  or  actpiired  by  them,  nor  ad 
with  injustice  to  the  .%originis.  What  we  claim 
a  nicjiiT  to  do,  wc  must  not  deny  to  the  Canadas. 
It  is  a  sort  of  National  iire-einjition  right  '.)  both. 
Great  Britain  caimot  righteously  complain  so 
long  as  we  do  not  deny  to  her,  us  the  mother 
country  of  the  Canadas,  the  same  right  ecjually 
with  ourselves.  She  caimot  rightfully  interrupt 
our  enjoyment  of  that  right.  And  it  she  does, 
then  vye  CANNOT  SUBMIT  TO  IT.  Our  divi- 
ding line  is  at  49°  on  this  side  of  the  mountians; 
and  if  it  is  straightened  to  the  Pacific  on  the  other 
in  harmony,  we  ought  to  be  satisfied.  In  settling 
that  line  between  the  two  Governments,  the  great 
law  of"  love  and  good  will  to  man"  requires  con- 
cessions for  eciuivalents,  to  be  agreed  for  by  mutual 
consent,  and  they  should  be  mutually  made  for  the 
convenience  of  each  other;  and  these  are  fit  sub- 
jects for  friendly  negotiation. 

This  Senate,  Mr.  President,  are  more  familiar 
with  the  doctrines  and  the  learning  of  books  about 
contiguity  and  continuitij  than  I  profess  to  be;  and 
they  might  well  complain  of  me  if  I  enhrged  upon 
those  tojiics.  My  constituents  are  a  j)lain  repub- 
lican people,  who  gei.erally  do  not  care  to  be  en- 
lightened by  such  tieati.ses.  As  many  of  them  as 
do,  will  read  for  themselves.  By  the  Constitution 
they  have  entrusted  the  maldug  of  TREATIES 
with  the  President  iuid  Senate.  They  are  satisfied 
with  the  Constilitlion  as  it  is,  and  patriotically  dis- 
posed in  all  parties  to  take  sides  with  their  coun- 
try. I  mean  "  the  People"  are.  They  will  feel  and 
understand  this  assertion  of  our  right  to  grow  and 
multiply  when  in  thej)rovidenceofGod  the  country 
wants  to  do  it;  and  I  doubt  not  it  will  vindicate  me. 
At  any  rate,  they  put  me  in  this  Senate  to  act  on 
questions  of  this  sort,  f/ijes/io?!s  o/ <re«<i/-)naA:t;)g,  and 
to  advise  the  President  according  to  my  best  judg- 
ment, upon  the  responsibility  of  my  own  con- 
science, and  I  shall  govern  myself  accordingly; 
accountable  to  God  that  my  motives  are  good,  to 
my  associates  that  my  speech  be  frank,  to  the 
people  only  that  I  DO  RIGHT. 

What  the  end  of  these  things  may  be,  if  the  Sen- 
ate shidl  come  to  the  same  conclusion  with  me, 
must  depend  upon  the  course  Gixat  Britain  may 
pursue,  or  may  not  pursue,  upon  the  subject  of  a 
compromise.  Of  that  I  know  nothing.  I  only 
know  what  she  ouuirr  to  do,  and  that  I  trust  in 
God  she  will  do.  One  thing  is  certain — it  will 
bring  us  to  the  end.  If  it  does  not  aid  negotiation 
it  will  not  hinder  it. 

I  believe  Great  Britain  desires  jieace,  because  it 
is  her  interest  to  do  it.  Her  Minister  is  still  here — 
ilieMinister  of  Peace — the  Minister  of  Peace  from 
a  Chrislian  people  and  a  Christian  Government. 
Why  should  we  doubt  the  result?  He  will  hard- 
ly leave  itefore  he  has  at  least  told  us  what  is  tliat 
"  FURTHER  PROPOSAL  MORE  CONSIST- 


ENT WITH    FAIRNESS  AND    EQUITY'," 

which  he  trusud  lln' Ami  lii'ivii  Ciovcnimciii  would 
make  l.i  him,  {pp.  11,  ()!).}  Sir,  the  civili/.id  wmld 
would  cxecral(!  the  MinisU'rs  of  both  Goviiiiininls 
if  this  negotiation  sliould  l>e  terminated  upon  any 
point  of  personal  or  diplomatic  ktiqi  urn..  Cliii.s- 
tian  lands  are  not  to  be  involved  in  wars  at  tliisday 
for  the  iiersonal  piaue  of  tlu.ir  agents.  Miiii.slers 
of  jieace  do  not  seek  occasion  for  a  quarrel;  Imi,  if 
really  inclined  to  compromise,  they  would  be  look- 
ed ui>on  as  miserable  bunglers,  when  eiihcr  orl)oth 
of  tlicin  cannot  find  in  their  own  corresjiinuleinie, 
or  elsewhere,  a  reason  or  a  jiriilext  for  nuikiiig  any 
ofl'er  that  would  prove  acceptable  to  both.  Ii-  tmkrk 
BK  ANY  SUCH,  leave  all  that  to  them,  and  there  let 
the  responsibility  lest,  undivided  by  us. 

This  matter  can  be  compromised,  if  the  two 
Governments  are  willing  to  do  it.  If  Great  Brit- 
ain does  not  intend  to  compromise,  we  ought  to 
know  it;  let  her  not  have  the  excuse  for  it  that  the 
President  was  against  "  all  compmiHisv,'^  but  in 
favor  of  "  all  Oregon  or  none."  She  shall  not  be 
permitted  to  say  that  that  misconstruction  of  the 
American  President,  although  ])roclaimed  in  the 
American  Senate  by  some  Senators,  was  neither 
refuted  nor  contradicted  by  any  other. 

This  notice  is  no  threat  at  all;  and  I  do  not  ex- 
pect it  is  either  to  Intimidate  Great  Britain  or  to 
ofiTend  her.  But  hitlierto  reither  of  the  two  Gov- 
erimieiUs  seems  to  have  fully  realized  the  neccissity 
of  terminating  this  last  cau.sc  of  dispute  b<',ween 
them,  and  of  opening  the  way  wider  for  the  cul- 
tivation of  a  permanent  natiimal  concord. 

Whatever  may  bo  //(cir  course  or //it/V  condition, 
it  seems  to  me  that  WE  are  no  longer  left  at  liber- 
ty to  |iostpone  a  final  settlement  of  this  whole  con- 
troversy about  Oregon.  The  jniblic  will,  express- 
ed through  their  immediate  delegates  in  tlu^  other 
House,  is  very  conclusive  upon  tluit  point.  An- 
other Presidential  election,  and  every  other  (pies- 
lion  will  be  made  subordinate  to  this  one  for  "Our 
nights." 

The  public  mind,  already  pre-occupied  by  one- 
sided arguments  upon  our  iitle  to  the  whole  of  Ore- 
gon, will  be  in  no  slate  to  discuss  it;  the  people 
will  be  excited  and  misled  by  denuiu'-iations  against 
every  man  who  has  the  moral  courage  luireaf'er  to 
doubt  it,  and  even  taught  to  call  him  |li^"  British;" 
the  prudein;e  of  age  will  be  decried  as  tlie  coun- 
sels of  a  foreign  influence  by  a  hired  press;  the 
wisdom  of  statesmen  will  be  set  aside  by  the  clam- 
ors of  selfish  demagogues;  the  love  of  j)eace  and 
the  finir  of  God  denounced  by  facti(>ns,  and  vilified 
by  self-constituted  associations,  as  the  cowardice  of 
traitors  and  the  afl'ectation  of  hypocrisy.  It  will 
soon  become  the  unholy  work  of  an  infuriated  party 
s[)irit,  aided  by  personal  ambition, to  createanu  ju'o- 
duce  in  our  happy  country  tlu.,,  "ud  much  more 
than  this; — all,  as  I  apprehend,  for  tlie  sake  of  put- 
ting great  men  down,  and  exalting  little  nun  to 
high  places,  more  than  it  will  befm-  the  purpose  of 
securing  our  national  rights.  Senators  and  others 
who  svould  scorn  to  play  the  game  arc  incautiously 
funiishing  the  cards — "All  of  Oregon,  or  none" — 
Our  title  is  "clear  and  unquestionable" — "The 
Administration  is  with  us" — "  Down  with  the 
treacherous  /)fimncr«<or"BrilisIi"  Whig  who  opens 
his  mouth  fur  coiniiroinise .'"    These  cries  will  be 


1  h 


20 


fi'>  mnny  nhslaclcB  to  Peace ! — lionnniblc  pracc. 
An  we  would  kvrn  the  power  over  tlii.s  .siilijfct  in 
the  IwumIh  to  which  the  CONSTITHTION  fia.scii- 
triistcd  it;  hh  wcwoiihl  protect  the  tniHicominitlrcl 
to  the  Skvate,  nnd  do  our  whoh;  duty  to    tlie 

C(\UNe  of  I.IBl'.RTY  REfiUI.ATKn  nV  LAW,  to  God,(\lld 

to  our  coiiwciencos — I  think  the  Senate  should  aid 
to  briiii;  tliis  controversy  to  a  conclusion,  in  some 
y;iiy  or  otiicr,  as  soon  ns  possible.  Another  year, 
and  it  may  be  too  late  to  settle  it  in  jicacc.  Another 
three  years'  May,  and  it  will  not  i)c  settled  without 
II  dreadful  conflict  of  political  Oji^itationa  at  home, 
and  perhaps  a  desperate  war  between  two  Christian 
nations.     God  d jliver  us  from  both ! 

If  the  trusts  of  this  body  under  the  Constiiution 
must  be  carried  for  discussion  beforehand  to  the 
court-houses  and  party  caucuses  of  the  land — if  we 
must  encounter  the  agitations  and  nerils  and  bitter- 
ness of  a  popular  ordeal,  in  our  foreign  afl'airs — 
will  not  the  Senate  agree  that  it  is  safer  and  wiser 
to  take  care  that  the  pleadin>'.;i  shall  be  made  up  so 
as  to  present  the  TRUE  ISSUES?  Notice  or  no 
notice  is  an  old  question — predctet mined  and  pre- 
judged; and  the  peace  of  the  country  ran  hardly 
DC  preserved  if  we  sufllr  that  to  be  the  issue  which 
goes  before  the  country.  Let  us  give  the  notice, 
then,  to  the  President's  hands,  before  the  negotia- 
tion is  closed,  and,  if  there  is  a  compromise,  the 
question  will  go  to  the  people  upon  that.  The  re- 
sult is,  to  my  mind,  neither  doubtful  nor  fearful. 
If  no  compromise  that  wc  can  accept  with  honor 
shall  be  oflered  now,  it  never  will  be  offered;  and 
then  we  shall  soon  have  the  whole  subject  before  us, 
and  can  take  such  steps  as  will  protect  our  rights 
and  carry  this  question  into  our^popular  elections 
upon  fair  and  true  issues.  But.  there  has  been  a 
doubt  excited  lest  the  President  might  abuse  the 
notice  after  we  have  authorized  it,  and  you  hesi- 
tate. Is  there  not  more  danger  from  our  delay, 
than  in  any  trust  we  may  repose  in  the  Executive 
by  giving  him  the  use  of  this  notice,  even  if  he 
should  abuse  it?  Friends  of  the  Administration — 
Democrats — surely  WE  can  confide  it  to  him, 
else  we  ought  not  to  be  his  friends.  Confidence  is 
not  to  be  expected  with  so  nmch  alacrity  from  those 
who  have  been  his  political  opponents,  especially 
when  some  of  ourselves  have  misconstrued  the  Pre- 
sident. But,  Whigs  of  the  Senate,  do  you  still 
doubt  his  position?  Do  you  fear  he  may  abuse 
this  notice  after  it  is  given  to  him,  (as  it  has  been 
said  he  would,)  by  abruptly  closing  negotiation, 
and  even  refusing  his  own  ofl'er  for  a  comj)ro- 
mise  at  49°,  should  it  be  returned  to  him?  To 
such  as  ore  resolved  to  stand  by  him  AT  THAT 
LINE  OF  COMPROMISE,  and  to  NO  OTH- 
ERS, do  I  appeal.  I  have  .said  already  that  if 
you  do  not  mean  to  stop  concession  at  that  line, 
you  do  right  in  refusing  the  notice.  He  cannot 
speak  upon  that  point;  official  propriety  forbids  it, 
as  I  have  already  said  and  proved.  But  here 
is  a  guaranty.  Let  him  but  venture  to  occupy 
that  position  contrary  to  your  hopes  and  expect- 
ations. Let  him  only  attempt  to  betray  the 
confidence  you  put  in  his  conduct.  (Oh!  he 
will  not  do  it.  I  feel  like  I  was  defending  a  friend's 
honor,  when  I  say  again,  and  again,  and  again, 
that  this  construction  "CANNOT  be  true.)  But 
what  if  he  should  attempt  it?    The  country  will 


yet  be  safe.  He  might  nnibarrnss  the  Sr  natr,  hut 
he  would  destroy  himself.  The  ivioment  he  dots 
it,  tlie  whole  s\il)ji'('t  will,  iiV  the  Constitution,  p^iss 
out  of  his  hands;  and  fill  EXCLUSIVKLY  INTO 
OURS.  The  Legislative,  and  not  the  Executive 
department,  will  tluMiceforlh  have  it  in  chnr''c; 
with  no  change  but  the  abrogation  of  a  convention 
that  it  were  rashness  in  us  to  contimie  longer  in 
force.  Wt!  have  a  majority  here  for  peace,  and  for 
every  honorable  means  of  preserving  it — no  more, 
but  all  that — men  who,  I  am  sure,  would  defy  fac- 
tion, and  luigh  at  demagogism  in  the  crisis  of  their 
country's  fate — Domoeriits  and  Whigs,  all  patiiotH 
and  together  upon  an  "AMERICAN"  rjuestioii. 
And  tiic  hill  for  extending  our  jurisdiction  over 
Oregon  need  not  to  be,  as  it  ought  not  to  be,  adopt- 
ed, until  we  see  what  more  the  President  will  do, 
and  xchal  Great  Bril(dn  means  to  do.  And  this  Senate 
ought  not  to  adjourn  until  we  know  whether  wc 
are  to  have  PE.VCE  or  a  SWOIID.  IT  SHALL 
NOT  BY  MY  VOTE.  It  would  not  be  becom- 
ing in  me  to  undertake  to  advise  how  we  ought  to 
act  in  such  a  case  upon  subsequent  measures. 
Though  I  do  not  admire  the  common  use  of  Scrip- 
ture quotations  in  political  speeches,  the  sul)jectand 
the  occasion  ajipeaV  to  be  solemn  and  impressive 
enough  to  excuse  me  for  saying-  upon  that  jioint, 
"  Sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof." 

I  come  now  to  invite  the  attent'  vii  of  the  Scnato 
to  some  of  the  several  forms  in  wliich  it  has  been 
proposed  that  this  notice  shall  be  authorized.  The 
resolution  reported  from  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Afl'airs  was  not  at  all  objectionable  to  my  mind  in 
the  outset.  For  nothing  on  its  face  do  I  now  think 
that  resolution  objectionable.  But  other  Senators 
were  not  satisfied  with  it,  and  preferred  to  purine  a 
different  form  of  words;  and  I  have  field  myself 
ready  at  all  times  to  adopt  any  form  that  might  be 
more  acceptable  to  others,  so  long  as  the  substance 
was  not  sacrificed.  If  I  could  desire  to  jnit  Sena- 
tors of  any  party  in  a  false  position  upon  a  (pies- 
tion  of  this  kind,  I  should  despise  niyself.  The 
resolution  and  preamljle  offered  by  the  S5  natorfrom 
Kentucky,  [Mr.  Ckittendex,]  when  it  was  pro- 
posed, seemed  to  me  to  arrive  at  the  ol)je(.'t,  stib- 
stantiedly,  by  another  form  of  words,  perhajis  bet- 
ter, perhaps  not;  any  way,  I  was,  at  the  ticginnnig, 
and  I  am  now,  contented  to  take  that.  I  like  it — I 
approve  it.  But  I  should  like  to  see  it  altered  by 
striking  out  the  proviso  which  delays  the  notice 
until  after  the  present  session  of  t^^ongress.  My 
reasons  have  been  already  stated.  Should  they 
make  no  impression  upon  the  judgment  oi  li'.e 
Senate,  I  do  not  expect  to  make  that  proviso 
a  reason  for  voting  against  that  amendment.  The 
preamble,  although  not  originally  necessary,  was, 
perhaps,  expedient,  on  account  of  the  course  of 
the  debati.s  wiilch  sprung  up  in  the  Senate,  ar.d 
connected  ihemselves  with  OREGON;  and  the  in- 
troduction of  the  proposition  of  the  Senator  from 
Kcntucivy  [Mr.  Crittexuen:]  was  at  v^nce  a  wise 
and  ])at"iotic  movement,  to  check  the  progress  ot" 
unnecessary  alarm  in  the  country.  With  the  lights 
at  that  time  before  us,  I  think  it  was  so.  Though 
I  knew  nothing  of  it  until  it  v.'as  proposed  by  him, 
in  my  heart  I  thanked  him  for  it.  That  Senator  is 
a  better  judge  than  I  am,  whether  all  the  valuable 
and  patriotic  purposes  designed  by  him  have  not 


if, 


:ss  llin  S(  nntr,I)nt 

iiioini'iit  hn  (loi  s 

r'(ii)Stitulii)li,  n:iss 

JSIVKLY  LNTO 

lot  the  Excpiitivf 
ivc   it   in  cliiir'^'f; 
m  of  iiconveiitidii 
oiitiime  loiiirrr  in 
for  pt'iu'c,  and  fur 
viiig  it — no  nioir, 
',  would  defy  fjic- 
tlie  cA-'iHin  of  iii(  ir 
Vlii:;s,  nil  jmtiiotH 
ICAN"  riiu'stioi), 
jiiri.'idic.tion  over 
t  not  to  l)c,  adont- 
Pio.sidont  will  do, 
.  And  this  Scnaie 
fiiow  whether  wo 
D.    IT  SHALL 
dd  not  be  Ijcroni- 
how  we  oiiy^ht  to 
?qiient  nicasurcs, 
iTion  use  of  Scriji- 
eSjthe  .subject mid 
1  and  impressive 
upon  that  point, 
t'il  thereof." 
'  Ml  of  the  Senate 
vliieh  it  has  lircn 
authorized.    The 
niittce  on  Forciu;n 
le  to  my  mind  in 
ee  do  I  now  think 
ut  other  Scnator.s 
rerrcd  to  ])ui'.a;i^  a 
[ave  held  myself 
m  that  miii;ht  be 
as  the  sub.stancc 
ire  to  put  Sena- 
ion  uj>on  a  (]urs- 
se  my.^elf.     The 
tlie  S  natorfroni 
fhcAi  it  was  pro- 
ihc  object,  sub- 
ds,  perhaps  bet- 
at  the  beii'innuicr, 
at.     I  lil:c  it— I 
see  it  altered  iiy 
elays  the  notii'e 
Con;2:re5;s.     I\Ty 
J.     Should  they 
dgment  oi    ti;p 
kc   that  proviso 
cndmciit.     The 
neccHsary,  was, 
the  coiu'se  of 
ho  Senate,  and 
ON:  and  the  in- 
le  Senator  from 
at  kjucc  a  wisp 
the  progress  of 
With  the  lig-hls 
IS  so.     Though 
oposed  by  him, 
That  Senator  is 
all  the  valuable 
Y  liim  have  not 


SI 


bren  fully  iirromplished.  Tlie  dilTerrncc  be- 
tween aulhori/.ing  the  President  to  give  llu;  notice 
at  llin  (lisrretion,  and  a  law  aiun.iling  ihe  treaty  and 
(Urretiii;:;  him  lo  i<;irr  the  nntire,  docs  not  seem  tome 
to  be  very  material;  ;ui'l  if  it  were,  1  would  Hu<:gest 
lliat  the  fTousr;  resolution  leaves  it  to  his  discrn- 
tion,  as  well  as  the  resolution  of  the  Senator  of 
Kentucky.  I  nm  willing  to  vote  for  either  of  the 
three,  as  may  Ijc  most  agreeable  to  others. 

The  aiuetulmrnt  suggested  by  the  honorable 
Senator  from  Georgia,  [Mr.  Coi.(ji'Itt]  I  cannot 
vote  for — the  last  resolution.  I  sat  dov.-n  to  ex- 
nminc  it,  with  n  sincere  desire  to  a])prove,  if  I 
could;  but  I  cannot,  and  I  regret  it  on  many  ac- 
counts.    The  words  an;  as  follows: 

"Sec.  2.  »^ntl  he  it  further  resolved,  That  it  is 
'earnestly  desired  that  the  long-standing  contro- 
'  versy  respectinj^  limits  in  the  Oregon  territory 
'he  speedily  settled,  l)y  negotiation  and  compro- 
'mi.se,  in  order  to  tranquillize  the  public  mnid, 
'  niul  to  preserve  the  friendly  relations  of  the  two 
'  countries." 

I  object  to  this,  because,  although  circumstances 
may  make  it  jiroper  or  excusable  in  a  {Senator  or 
Senators  to  express  his  or  their  individual  opinions 
iil>on  a  negotiation  in  a  debate,  yet  this  Senate  as 
a  Senate  ought  not  to  do  it,  and  we  ought  not  to  take 
charge  of  a  negotiation  pending  at  the  Executive 
Department.     The  Constitution  lia.s  left  all  that  to 
llic  President,  unless   he   aslrs   tlu^   Senate   for  ad- 
vice; and  that  advice  should  then  jiroceed  from  the 
fimale  alone,  acting  in  Executive  session,  not  from 
Congress.     This  Sonatc  may  be  more  competent 
tn  conduct  a  neirotialion  than  President  Vn\k,  but 
the  CONSTITUTION  hns  determined  that  matter 
otherwise;  and,  "  by  the  Constitution,"  President 
Polk  is  the  wiser  and  i-iifer  negotiator.     We  must 
not  gain:-ay  that  by  our  resolutions  a.s  a  Seiuite.     If 
il  be  our  right,  I  should  question  the  expediency  of 
j^aving  any  advice  iinasL'etl.     If  we  were  ever  so 
com])eteni  by  the  Constitution  to  give  the  advice 
unasked,  and  it  were  not  inexpedient  to  do  it  tor 
nilicr  reasons,  yet  it  is  entirely  unnecessary  in  this 
c;'S(\     The  negotiation  is  pending  upon  the  liasis 
of  "  compromise,^'  and  wo  have  the  President's  de-  j 
cku'ation  to  the  British  Minister  that  he  has  "  dc-  j 
Icnviincd  to  pursue  it  to  a  concbision"  upon  that  ' 
iiasis.     Indeed,  Senators  know  that  after  the  basis  ' 
v.as  once  arranged  by  mutual  consent,  it  was  not  ' 
ill  the  ]iower  of  one  of  them  to  change  that  br.sis,  | 
without  the  consent  of  the  other,  or  else  termiim-  ' 
ting  the  negotiation.  ; 

i  object  to  it  further,  because  if  the  SENATE 
lins  a  right  to  advise,  and  it  would  lie  prudent  and  ; 
wise  to  give  the  advice,  still  it  cannot  be  pretended  j 
that  CONGRESS  has   such   a  power  under  the  ' 
Coiistitulion;  and  it  is  one  of  the  first  and  highest 
duties  of  the  Senate  to  ]irotect  the  peculiar  trusts  , 
which,  under  the  Con.stitutioii,  ajipertain  to  it,  and  I 
not  to  admit,  much  less  to  invite,  the  House  of 
Representatives  into  partnershi))  for  advising  the 
President  upon   our  foreign  afiairs.      I5y  adding  ' 
this  amcnumcnt  to  a  joint  resolution,  we  violate  ; 
that  duty  ourselves,  and  consent  to  and  invite  an  i 
encroachment  upon  the  Senate;  and  that  forms  to  \ 
my  mind  a  conclusive  objection.     Were  there  no  1 
other,  it  ought  to  prevail.  | 

I  ol.)ject  to  it  further,  because,  if  it  is  intended 


ns  a  declnration  of  our  "earnest  desire"  nmdn  tu 
a  foreign  Govrmment,  and  addressed  to  it;  then  it 
is  very  unusual,  if  it  lie  not  a  reflection  upon  our 
Chief  Magislrntc.  He  is  the  "  only  mouth"  of 
this  Government  to  sneak  to  other  nations;  ani 
ho  hns  already  told  Great  IJritain  that  lie  "  i/c- 
sires"  n  com[ir(Uiiise.  Once  is  cnoiigh.  I  would 
give  no  room  for  nn  inference  that  wc  distrust- 
ed him  or  his  peaceful  purposes.  It  is  proper 
that  we  should  give  him  the  moral  weight  of  our 
Legislative  oiiiiiion  by  act '  r  reaoliiliou  tor  iiotic(>, 
and  h  ave  linn  lo  use  it  the  best  way  he  can,  but 
still  responsible  for  any  abuse  of  it.  There  1  hope, 
wc  shall  stop.  Give  all  the  aid  he  nsks,  but  ofler 
no  impediments.  Thenceforth  I  would  make  no 
more  calls  for  correspondence,  but  leave  tlio  iVfin- 
isters  to  carry  through  the  negotiation.  Oiu'  calls 
may  be  embarrassing  to  both  of  them.  They  arc 
not  calculated  to  aid  our  own. 

There  is  onother  olijection  to  this  resolution,  that 
is  conclusive  to  my  own  mind,  and  I  nsk  particu- 
lar attention  to  it.  If  I  interpret  it  aright,  it  advise?) 
n  compromise  between  4!)°  and  the  Columbia  river. 
Now  to  that  /  cannot  a<:;ree.  In  the  Gth  protocrl 
arc  these  words:  The  British  Minister  said  "//int 
'  he  did  not  feel  authorized  tn  enter  into  a  discussion 
'  rcspectini^  the  territory  north  of  the  4'Jth  parallel 
'  of  latitude,  which  was  underslood  by  the  British 
'  (iovernment  to  form  the  basis  (f  nip:nliatinn  on  the 
'  -idc  of  the  United  Slates,  as  the  line  of  Ihe  Columbia 
^firmed  that  on  the  side  of  Great  lirilain." 

To  this,  I  apprehend,  our  Government  assented 
by  signing  the  protocol,  and  Mr.  Pakrnham  has 
ever  since  treated  the  matter  accordingly.  Then 
the  "  ])cnding  controversy  "  respecting  limits  is 
understodd  to  be  a  controversy  whether  those  lim- 
its shall  be  settled  at  40°,  or  at  the  Columbia  river; 
and  our  advice  to  seille  it  by  compromise  would  be. 
advice  tocompromise,  viz:  to  give  anil  take  for  a  line 
between  these  two.  I  do  not  say  it  was  so  intended; 
I  nm  sure  it  was  not.  But  see  how  much  difficulty 
there  is  in  agreeing  upon  our  construction  of  tlu; 
Message.  Shall  wc  not  multiply  embarrassment 
by  every  stc)i  of  our  interference  with  negotiation  ? 

Suppose  that  mine  was  not  the  proper  interpre- 
tation of  this  resolution.  It  must  oe  admitted  not 
to  be  free  of  doubt.  That  is  sufficient  to  con- 
demn it;  for  it  may  mislead  Great  Britain.  Her 
Minister  may  undcr.^tand  it  as  I  do,  and  the  con- 
sequence will  be  that  no  offer  that  we  can  accept 
will  be  made. 

Upon  the  whole,  I  submit  to  tlie  Senate  that  the 
House  resolutions,  under  all  the  circumstances 
now  surrounding  this  subject,  had  better  be  adopt- 
ed by  the  Senate.  Their  second  resolution  is  but  a 
proviso  excluding  any  inference  that  that  House 
designed  by  the  first  one  to  obtrude  into  a  subject 
belonging  to  the  President  and  Senate.  It  was 
perhaps  right  for  them  to  say  so.  It  was  but  say- 
ing to  us  and  to  the  President,  "As  a  negotitition  is 
pending,  and  this  House  claims  no  right  to  inter- 
rupt it,  we  have  taken  care  to  declare  that  negotia- 
tion is  a  matter  with  which  the  people's  Uejiresent- 
atives  in  the  House  do  not  hereby  inter))ose." 
And,  at  the  same  time,  the  vote  on  their  i>art  im- 
plied the  absence  of  any  hostility  t<i  negotiation. 
L^pon  this  subject, and  at  this  stage  of  it, nep^oliation 
means  compromise.  From  that  there  is  no  escape. 


i^ 


■k. 


111? 


22 


Tlic  grrat  reiiHon  wliy  T  would  oiitrent  the  Sfimtc 
to  tnke  tlie  House  ri-Mitlutions,  ao  free  of  olgcclion 
an  they  urn,  Ih  thin: 

The  diffiremrc,  if  any,  in  fiivor  of  either  of  tho 
other  projHiHltions  over  those  from  the  Houw,  in 
not  to  he  comimred  to  the  inconvenience,  iising  no 
stronger  expriMHion,  which  the  Hcndineof  thJHdiH- 
riitjHion  Ixick  to  the  other  HotiMe  will  produce  in 
the  country,  imd  the  certain  delay  uiiii  prohnhle 
cmhiirriiHHnients  it  will  lead  to  in  pui-suini;  the  ne- 
gotiation. The  whole  sulijectis  with  the  Senate — 
with  the  Senate  I  leave  it. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  now  concluded  what  I  had 
to  pay.  I  must  be  more  or  less  than  a  man  if  1 
felt  eo  indifferent  to  the  kind  and  ''"ittcring  atten- 
tion of  the  Senate  for  two  days,  aH  not  to  express 
my  gratitude  for  it.     1   have  spoken   plainly  of 

frinciples  and  things — I  hope  not  too  much  so. 
t  is  difficult,  I  know,  to  do  that  without  an  ap- 
pearance of  disrespect  to  those  I  answer.  But 
«n  attack  upon  errors  of  opinion  is  no  assault 


upon  the  persona  holding  them.  In  my  heart 
there  is  notliing  of  unkindneas.  If  I  luid  not  heeii 
placed,  most  reluctantly,  in  an  attitude  where  I 
must  speak,  or  be  misunderstood;  if  I  had  Udt 
been  goaded  by  repeated  declaration.^  which  I 
could  not  assent  to,  and  which,  if  correct,  I  knew 
would  force  me  to  oppose  the  Administration,  und 
to  abandon  a  friend,  and  which,  if  not  correct,  it 
was  my  duty  and  my  right  as  a  Senator  to  refuto 
in  free  debate — I  .should  not  havi;  opened  my  mouth, 
If  this  performance  of  an  unavoidable  duty  should 
leave  me  exposed  to  miHrepresenlalion,  I  mu.ft 
bear  it.  My  hands  arc  clean — my  heart  is  easy— 
my  con.scicncc  is  unburdened;  and  if  I  liave  done 
anything  for  good  I  shall  rejoice — if  not,  1  huvc 
tried  to  do  it.  And  having  confidence  in  Qod 
stronger  than  any  •'  confidence  in  princes,"  I  pray 
that  HE  who  rules  the  destiny  of  nations  may 
guide  our  counsels  so  as  to  save  the  peace  of  mv 
beloved  country,  and  protect  it  forever  by  Ill's 
mighty  arm  in  tho  enjoyment  liberty  und  religion. 


i 


&i 


T  ;'  - 


sm.  In  my  Immi 
If  I  Imd  not  Ijeen 
1  attitude  whon;  I 
tood;  if  I  hiid  iKit 
Iiirntiona  whkh  I 
if  correct,  I  knew 
dministrution,  uml 
1,  if  not  correct,  it 
I  Senator  to  rcfutn 
opened  niyuioiitli. 
idiiblo  duty  should 
Hcntiition,  I  must 
my  heart  is  eiiHy— 
lid  if  I  have  done 
::c— if  not,  I  have 
onfidence  in  God 
n  princes,"  I  prny 
y  of  nations  may 
I  the  peace  of  mv 
t  forever  by  Ill's 
lerly  und  religion. 


'\ 


